The M a s s e s :: Silence v1
by Etsuuko
Summary: 3 Silent Regalia. 3 Chosen Country Mice. Imagine having the power of one of the 3 Masses, a power thats bound to kill its wearer. And there's no escape to that fate. There will be hurt. There will be joy. And it will suprise you. Better summary inside.
1. Prologue & Author's Note

**_Summary:_** Three Osakan Storm Riders are about to get a big suprise when they discover that they are the 3 Masses; the only three people chosen to wear the 3 silent regalia. With such power comes such pain, but who knew the hearts of a few teenagers could get torn in so many different ways? Read now, about how the world of ATs not only changes the life of 3 country idiots, but how it alters the lives of everyone who dares to call themself a Storm Rider. Canons? Check. Non-Mary/Gary-sue OC's? Check. Unexpected twists and drops? This is one hell of a roller coaster for those who seek to play with their emotions.

**_Warnings:_** Characters will die. Characters will break up one another after getting together (no couple is garunteed permanent)

If you're into that predictable sht, get the hell outta here!

--

**_The way of the Storm Riders..._**

_Air Trecks are rollerblades with tiny motors within them, winged shoes used by Storm Riders who form teams to compete against one another in Parts Wars, battles and dashes that risk everything. But to Storm Riders, everything is a gamble; they don't care. To them, the world is their sky, and they are the birds, reaching for even higher than their spirits.  
__Emblems are bet and taken away. These emblems represent their designated teams and if won by another team, the losing team is forced to disband and leaven the world of A-T (Air Treck) forever. Teams are ranked by letter, from A-F, "F" being lowest, "A" being highest. In order for a team to the next class, the team must either beat a team of a higher class or win 3 consecutive battles against teams of the same level._

_Higher than the classes, there are the 8 Kings who each rule 1 of 8 roads. They use their regalia, a tool given to them to prove their position, in battles. These regalia give their AT's extraordinary abilities. If a team of Storm Riders defeats each of the 8 Kings, then this team advanced to the Grand Five, another powerful group of Storm Riders who use the regalia as well. If a team is able to defeat the Grand Five with no losses (meaning a straight 5 to 0 win) then they rise to the top and have the option of joining "PEACE.NOW", and earning the respect of riders all over Japan. Even after this, the team must fight their way to the top of "PEACE.NOW", by beating it's 7 chairmen (which each use regalia) and later on compete with Storm Riders all over the **world**._

**_Who will make it _to_ the top_**_?_

_Team Kogarasumaru and their leader, Ikki Minami, who is destined to become sky king..._

_Genesis, a team that already rules most of Japan...__ Sleeping Forest, a legendary team that seems to be falling into the shadows..._

_Team Elevenride, a team of idiots from Osaka who hardly know what the heck is going on; but they may prove to be some competition in the future..._

With candidates like this, the story doesn't get any juicier...

--

This fanfiction was originally written BY HAND by Jessica Skidmore (me) and Brittany Blackburn in the form of a roleplay. All made up characters were created either by Brittany or myself giving no one any right to steal them. You have been warned.

Air Gear is copyright to Oh!Great, as well as all of its original characters.  
This fanfiction does not reflect the opinion of Oh!Great or any other company associated with the original Air Gear.

Some parts of the online version may differ from the original handwritten version due to gramatical errors and mistakes that I have either corrected or changed.

This fanfiction has been rated T for profanity (Agito), sexual content, nudity, violence, occasional disturbing imagery, gang related activities, drugs & alchohol, and other suggestive themes. There might be times when I put a "" by a chapter, meaning that chapter is rated MATURE. Those chapters are a little graphic.

I hope you guys enjoy this fanfiction; it already has a lot of fans locally, so I figured that I'd post it online. Yes, there are made up characters throughout it, but don't worry:** I've made sure that they are all unique and interesting, and fun to read. They are all relatable, and shouldn't piss you off. **Ofcourse, there will always be that character you don't like, according to your taste in characters, but I've made sure that even they have their own strong points and flaws.  
Like the anime/manga, the pairings will remain a mystery until the end. You'll just have to cheer for whoever you want to go with who. It's possible to be an OCxCanon, OCxOC, CanonXCanon, Yaoi, Yuri... just about anything could happen.

Well anyways, I hope you guys enjoy it-- Now I present to you, "The M a s s e s : Silence (v1)"!! (Currently, the hand written roleplay is approximately 3 one subject notebooks long, so you can expect about that much to read.)


	2. Swallow's Warning

"So I really don't understand why these guys are able to have all this territory when they're only F-class," the girl pulled out a sticker with her team, Elvenride's, logo on it, and then slapped it over the sticker which had previously been posted on the wall about 3 weeks ago; Kogarasumaru's, "There."

It had been 2 days since her team had moved to Tokyo from Osaka. After recently, the team had made it to A-class and decided to bring their dreams of flight with them to the big city.

The girl's voice spilled between her lips, "Kogarasumaru. They have 5 members and a single helper that appears at random…yep. Well, if F-class has this much turf I can only imagine how much of it we're gonna get. I guess Tokyo is a big place, compared to back home…"  
Elvenride had lived in one of the more rural areas of Osaka.

The girl, called Sakanako, turned to face the other 4 members of the team.

One of the members, a lolita named Meneko brought up a point, "Don't ya'll think this is a little weird, though?"  
Another member, Hasuei nodded his head in agreement, "It's beyond weird. I heard one of the members used to work for the government or something kinda like that."  
Sakanako rolled her eyes and then slid her hands into her hoodie pockets, "Well, even if that were true, if they were a threat they'd be of higher class…" she explained, dully, a little annoyed with the chickens she labelled team mates.

Izumi, a tall gangly boy who stood leaned against a near surface, grinned as he listened to the conversation. His edged teeth were beared, shining a dull white against the light of the sun and his brown eyes glittered with the anxiety of opportunity. "Well, whatever the reason is, it don't matter. We'll just kick their asses and claim their territory. Oh, I can't wait!" he exclaimed, excitedly, retrieving a balled fist from the pocket of his faded jeans. A content growl arose from his throat as he imagined it, and he met the gazes of his team. "What's _that_ face for?" he asked a short haired girl that sat at his feet and gazed up at him with disgust.

The girl, who was known as Naodan, shoved her hands beneath her crossed legs and shrugged.  
"Nothin', I guess." she murmured.  
"Hm?"  
"Just… there are so many teams, I guess. Taking out all the F-ranks'll be alright, but…"  
"Suck it up, Nao, just wear padding: you won't get hurt too bad."  
She sighed and pushed out her lower lip in a pout in reply.

Hasuei released a breath, "So uh.. what do we do now that we challenged them?"  
There was a quiet thud and the falling of short, silvery pink hair. "Well, welcome to Tokyo, rookies I've heard rumors about you." There was a giggle. Simca. "It's not a wise idea to pick a fight with Kogarasumaru on your first day, you know." she advised, smiling.  
Sakanako almost laughed, but ended up scoffing, offended, "…! And what makes you think that we're going to trust you, Simca?" her electric green eyes leered.  
Simca smirked, "Well, Fish Girl, I'm assuming you haven't heard that their leader, Ikki Minami, is destined to become the Sky King. Oh, plus the King of the Bloody Road is also a member of their team. He's the reason that their team has all this territory!" she began to giggle again, at their obliviousity to the events falling around them.

"The Fang King's with them…?" Meneko repeated, holding a hand to her chest, eyes downcast.  
"That's what this little birdie's telling you!" Simca winked, aiming at Izumi.  
"We're **not** backing out," Sakanako stated, boldly, crossing her arms.  
"Agito's strong, Fishy, he'll rip you and your Osaka friends to shreds if you guys aren't careful!" her voice was still welcoming; to her, this was just friendly advice.  
"I didn't ask about him." Sakanako replied, eyes narrowing as she clenched her fists. Simca was getting on her nerves, '_Why is it any of her business who we're challenging, anyways?_'

Simca held up her index finger and shook it, side to side, "Ah, ah, ah You should watch yourself, Fish; you'll get into huge amounts of trouble if you can't keep your mouth shut around higher ranked Storm Riders." Her gaze shifted tp the side, "Anyways, you've been warned. My little crow has real wings… Let's just hope you do , too. Later!" and then she lept off into the air.

Sakanako shifted her weight to her left leg, hands on her hips. Her mouth wiggled side to side before she exhaled her tension,  
"Crazy woman."  
"Crazy. Sexy crazy," Izumi repeated dazily, his eyes staring after Simca in admiration.

Naodan's pink jewel-like irises watched Sakanako,

"A little birdie… told me something pretty upsetting. I don't know about this… "Icky" Sky King guy…" she began to say as she stood.  
Naturally, when taking and adjusting her stance, the toe of her left foot caught the heel of her right and she wobbled ackwardly for a moment,  
"But..umm,… the King of the Bloody Road…?"  
"Don't worry about it, Nao. Agito can't own _all_ of this property." Izumi interuptted, still grinning after Simca, stupidly. "Mmn." He was lost in his own imagination. But then, he looked to Sakanako, his features suddenly aquiring a sense of seriousness.

"But… I know we can do this." He tried to assure them, attempting to be a leader, but failing.


	3. Bluff

((:Later that afternoon:))

"Osaka? That place is new to AT's, isn't it? I heard that their parts and wheels are pretty cheap!" Buccha notified his audience, in a loud booming voice. Sakanako stared deadly at the huge black guy and crossed her arms across her breasts. Coincidentially, Kogarasumaru had happened to arrive at the park after school, the same place where Elvenride had been waiting for them to arrive.

Onigiri and Ikki had been circling the girls with a flock of perverted snickers, eyes gleaming lecherously.  
Meneko's lower lid twitched a little bit, and she fidgetted to the side uncomfortably, "Disgustin'.." she muttered quietly, before Sakanako stuck out a long leg for the little leeches to trip on. As predicted, they did.

Hasuei stared at Akito, who was currently bothering Naodan, "And I'm guessin' that he's the Fang King we're supposed to be scared of?"  
Akito turned around when he was mentioned. After a couple of blinks, he replied, "Well uh,… yeah. I _guess_ you could say that.. but, Agito's the _real_ Fang King now.." he scratched the back of his neck, smiling in that cute way he always managed to pull off. In anwser to his statement, he was pounced by a lolita who released a fangirlish squeal as she toppled him to the sidewalk. This nudged his eyepatch over his left eye on accident, for earlier, it had covered his right.

Sakanako and Ikki were both becoming impatient, "Can we fight now?" they asked, in unison, both in a demanding tone. Ikki looked over to Sakanako and froze for a second, '_Is she psychic or something?!'_

Without giving who she thought was Akito a chance to respond, Meneko hopped off of the small frame below her and alligned behind Hasuei and Naodan. She wiggled her fingers flirtatiously in a wave aimed towards the blue-haired male.

Buccha towered over his team and then thought to himself for a minute. "Since they're F-Class, we're dashing, Ikki."  
Ikki nodded, "Right. Okay, so… pick out your fastest 3 riders and it'll be 2 out of 3. Who ever wins get's this park." He was confident.

He looked over his team.

"Kazu, Agito and myself," he announced, almost brainlessly before turning to face the Osakans, "We've decided. You finished yet?"

Sakanako groaned and watched Izumi expectantly, as well as the other team members, "Meneko, stop that. You're making us look retarded.."  
"Oh, but he's so sweet, Sakanako Look at those cheeks!" the lolita swooned in a whisper.  
Sakanako pulled the girl's frilly, twiddling-fingered hand down with out another sentence.  
Hasuei shuffled his feet in boredom; he knew for a **_fact_** that he wasn't the fastest, "Let's just kick their asses and get outta here,"

Izumi naturally stepped forward, smiling in anticipation. "Sakanako, you're with me," he ordered, "And stop trying to play the leader..!" he barked, following his first demand.  
His chocolate optics befell Naodan breifly before looking away, "Naw," he now instead eyed Meneko, "C'mon, Lolita." he directed, grinning.

Naodan made a face as though she had been insulted, but knew she'd only fail if she tried, at the moment, "B-but..., I wanna race.." she hissed at their leader.  
Izumi's eyes rolled and then he exhaled a sigh from deep within his chest, "Mm-hm. Don't lose."  
Then Naodan took her place beside Sakanako, smiling with some sort of pride.

But in response, Sakanako arched a brow questioningly in Izumi's direction. He shouldn't have been getting cocky in a setting like this. "Hope you know what you're doing, **_BOSS_**." she remarked mockingly. She watched the opposing team apathetically before muttering, "Damn, they're slow.." under her breath; she crossed her arms once again and then called out in annoyance, "Hurry up! I'll be in my frickin' grave anytime soon!"

Ikki let out a smart assey scoff, "Yeah, you're right! You'll all be in your graves when Kogarasumaru's done with you!"  
Onigiri was snickering through his fat lips.

Sakanako groaned, irritated at the males' immaturity.  
"Look, you: you've been—"  
"Little Crow" Simca.  
She landed on a nearby telephone post.  
Ofcourse Ikki turned, and Sakanako curled her toes inside her air trecks angrily.

Simca ignored her completely.

"Little Crow, if you win this battle then I guess I'll have to give you another present from me, won't I?"  
"Whore!" Sakanako accused, finally fed up with Simca's arrivals, "Stop interuptting me and stop stalking us! This is seriously **NONE **of your effing business!"  
Simca swooped down and landed darkly in front of Sakanako.  
The red ribbons on her outfit fell gracefully about her as her silver eyes leered up at the new female,

"Don't act like you know everything; you're lucky I can tolerate little brats like you." her voice was shadowy, and in a low, serious growl.  
Sakanako was a bit startled, but quickly recovered, and she pretended that Simca's threat didn't effect her.

Simca's mood brightened in an instant as she skated to the center of the teams. Her smile returned, "I'll be referee!" she announced, musically, "And the winning team's leader gets a peck on the cheek from _yours_ truly"  
Ikki was in. Izumi was pumped.  
Sakanako was utterly digusted. This woman was such a slut.

With a final, aggravated moan, Sakanako stood at the starting point. She waited for her apponent to allign with her.

It was while Sakanako was waiting when a slender man with beautifully styled, firey-orange hair skated in, a trail a dim fire following closely behind him. He wore an overcoat with a fur-rimmed hood. The fire trail turned to ashes as he said in an appealing accent, "Are these the new people from Osaka you ere telling me about?"  
Simca nodded, "These guys are them."  
The man watched with curiousity, "Well now, Agito, you might want to go first then. Elvenride is an A-rank team back from where they come from." he suggested.

Sakanako was dizzily nodding her head. She was infatuated with this new character, and her heart beat sped in pace. This man was one of the 8 Kings: Spitfire. And what a work of art he was.

Agito shot an acidic glare towards the Osakans, "The fuck?! What makes you think,.. that _**I**_ want to run this lame-ass race?!" he snarled, though he pushed himself into an upward position from the ground. Izumi didn't pay attention to Agito. He narrowed his eyes at Sakanako for being such a sour puss, then looked to his team mates, "Sakanako, race this guy," he muttered in reference to the Fang King, while his own eyes glared competitively at only Ikki.

Agito jumped to his feet, his hands balled into fists, "Fuckers." he cursed, eyes leering at Sakanako. He grinned, bearing his "fangs",  
"Watch out, fish, I'm gonna rip you up." he snarled, turning to face the direction of the starting point, which previously had held his back to, "If I'm doing this shitt race, let's get it the hell over with."  
The female he had been adressing haden't been paing much attention. She was still onlooking Spitfire, love-stricken. However, the Fang King's rugged voice corrupted her imagination, and eventually, it got to the point where she couldn't ignore him, and was forced to listen to his taunts.

She crouched down, in poise to begin, but she was unfocused and still admiring the glimpse of the Flame King she was able to see from the corner of her eye.  
Simca's voice announced at the most inconvenient time possible, "Begin!"

The female competitor lost balance for a split second, allowing Agito a short head start. Her wheels, cheap and from a ghetto store in Osaka, screeched in a very painful high pitch as she glided across the sidewalk.  
"Shit.." she whispered, angrily, following Agito's hooks, with Spitfire blinding her mind.

Kogarasumaru was cheerleading in the background, their voices muffled due to the ringing of air in Sakanako's eardrum.

Hasuei and Meneko looked shakily to Naodan. They knew that if Sakanako was having this much trouble keeping up, then there was absolutely no hope for the female, who was known for being clumsy.  
Naodan stuck her lip out in a pout and then bit down heavily on it, while she passed them an unassured glance in return, "Apparently… this won't be so easy…" their stares made her nervous.

Agito was already roughly 84 meters ahead of Sakanako, his eyes squinting due to the stinging of the wind, but sparkling with the thrill of his upcoming victory. He cackled, wildly, the maniac laughter echoing faintly behing him with his slip stream.

Izumi was becoming humiliated. He screamed a barked command at Sakanako, "**RIDE FASTER!!**"

Ringo stared at the country mouse racer in disappointment. She hadn't said anything since they had arrived, but she couldn't help but feel bad for the other team as Sakanako fell behind at such a short amount of time, "…an A-rank team…?"


	4. Ridicule

Simca was giggling quietly as well as Spitfire who chuckled modestly into the sleeve of his overcoat.  
His laughing… it humiliated Sakanako, yet motivated her, "SHUT UP!!" she shouted at all of them. To Izumi, to Agito, to Simca and to Spitfire…  
When she realized there was no way in hell she would catch up, the female completely stopped skating and used her thighs to plunge herself into the air.  
Spitfire quietly looked around and his chuckling stopped when he felt a slight spark of heat emit from his regalia.  
Suddenly, things were becoming serious.  
'_I wonder… if Agito's feeling her aura as well…_'  
His eyes went to Naodan and Izumi and then to Simca, who had also stopped laughing, though her gaze was strictly fixated on the dash.

'_…they couldn't be…but her spirit isn't one of the Kings…what else is there for her to be?_'

Sakanako was at the altitude of her parabola when her body flipped, caused by the muscles of her lower back and buttocks, to trigger another thrust into the air. Her dark, sepia brown hair slapped her in the eyes as the wind danced by cooly. She narrowed her eyes, the orange sunset shining against her figure.

"So that's her strong point. A flying fish. Sounds catchy, but even that won't save her the Parts War. A fish who can't substain water will suffocate against the harsh air if they're foolish enough to jump out of the sea for too long…" Simca commented, the pale plains of her face touched by the light coral rays of the lowering sun.  
Spitfire kept to himself and chose to watch silently as the fish slowly began to descend, flipping and using her powerful legs to gain as much air-mileage as possible.

Then she landed, near the tail of Agito's slip stream. Her thighs were aching and growing heavy, but something pushed her onwards. With an embarrassed growl, Sakanako grabbed two of the hooks that flew rabidly behind Agito, who was still winning by several meters.  
With all the strength she could muster, she hit the brake of her ATs and began to reel herself in towards him, until she was within hearing range. She surfed along behind him, before she reached for the back collar of his team's uniform jacket and ruthlessly whirled him around.

Her brake made a nasty scar in the pavement. She forced them both to a stop.

As she stared into the face of the Fang King, all she could feel was how stupid she looked, and how ridiculed the rest of her team must've felt,

"I quit. Team Elvenride quits the dash." she said solemnly, before releasing his jacket and hooks' straps. Her eyes didn't leave him, for she was too ashamed to see the faces of her team mates; but most importantly, she was scared to see Spitfire.

Her body was trembling with discomfiture.

"Hell yeah!!" Ikki hooted wildly, before the Pig Brothers joined in his rantings.  
Meneko was blushing lightly, uncomfortably. She watched Agito in awe, admiring his every feature, although she should've been glaring; after all, he had just basically hammered their strongest member.

Hasuei grinned, timidly,  
"Well… I guess it saves _**us**_ the trouble of being mortified, eh?"  
Spitfire overheard Hasuei and turned his head, grace moleculing his every crevice, "There's no reason to be ashamed, you know. The standards of Osaka are uncom'prable to the regulations of Tokyo's storm riders. I actually believe your team has plenty potential,"  
"Optimistic, as usual," Simca tooted, watching Agito and Sakanako inquisitively.

Agito made a disgusted face at Sakanako, "You bitch!!" he hissed, as he wrapped his hooks in spirals around his thin legs, "Did you just come to Tokyo to litter the streets with your trashy riding!? Go back to **OSAKA**, where that sorry excuse for riding is considered **A-rank**!!" he scoffed at the idea, "You won't get far here with those shitty-ass skills! You really thought you could beat the Fang King?!" he scoffed again, sustaining his laughter.

Izumi groaned, gripping the edge of his shirt angrily. He growled in frustration, and then looked desperately to Simca, eyes widening, pleadingly; but he knew it was futile, so he simply glowered at the ground in defeat, their brown depths holding defiancy within them. Could they have really lost so badly?

Spitfire was watching Agito bite at the new arrival; he didn't nessicarily approve of what the Fang King was doing, but he didn't bother to say anything about it.

Sakanako's brow furrowed to the slightest degree.  
"You know what, asshole? You're right. Though I hate to admit it to a shrimpy bastard like you, you're right, and it's thanks to you and your 'Fang Kingliness' that we're going to get our asses working harder." Her hands slipped into her hoodie pockets and her head tilted upwards and to the left, her bright green eyes still focused on him; looking down on him,  
"Don't waste your breath ranting about how we'll never defeat you and how we should give up. I know we can't conquer Tokyo at our level and with our skills, I'm not retarded. I don't want to listen to any of your cocky bragging. I don't give a flip how high in rank you are, or how well you ride: I'm won't respect you until you earn it, arrogant little shithole." steam rose from the wheels of her ATs due to the damage of it's parts but she ignored it. Her eyes narrowed, boldly.

As Sakanako snarled retorts at Agito, Ikki was watching her ATs. He noticed how her clothes were tattered with dirt and grass stains and he began to wonder how she got them. The wheels of her skates weren't in great shape either, even before the race had begun. He noticed that Naodan and Izumi were just as filthy, but took observation to the fact that Meneko and Hasuei were spotless.  
Did they have no home?  
He looked to Ringo and gestured her over with a wave of his hand.

"The girl's wheels have worn down.. her equipment is very low level." Spitfire notified Simca, who was getting a little annoyed with all the pointless conversations floating about.  
Her eyes rolled, "Yeah, I would think so, since Osaka isn't exactly a reccomendable environment for a storm rider." Her grey optics then concentrated on Sakanako. Her teeth clenched behind her petal-like lips in something called anger.

These country-hicks… although their skills were a joke, she knew that they could possibly interfere with Ikki's destiny. The fact that Spitfire's regalia responded to that girl… that worried the swallow. Could these idiots from Osaka have been the 3 Masses? Could they have gone on unseen until now?

Agito's grin lessened to the slightest degree and he leaned towards Sakanako and muttered, "No respect? Maybe I didn't kick your ass badly enough, cause you still have a foul mouth on you, Shitface."  
Sakanako's hands slid from her pockets and then curled before landing sharply on her hips. She swung herself forwards, matching his pose and her lips curled into a smirk, "I'm the one with the foul mouth, remember?" a small laugh escaped her fox-like grin before she held up an index finger and flicked him with it on the forehead. He reminded her of someone she vaguely remembered…, "You didn't technically kick anyone's ass, your _Majesty_, cuz' like the scared loser I was, I quit before you could do anything with it!" she reminded him, "So yeah, no respect for you." she grinned.  
The male she had flicked reared back as her finger hit his forehead. He stared at her as though she had just raped him: half in horror, half in rage. He snarled, unaware of what to say, because she'd basically said the truth—everything he could make fun of… admitted? Where was the fun in that?  
"By what I've seen, kicking your fuckin' ass wouldn't be hard," he growled, running out of things to comeback with.  
'_She wasn't supposed to **admit** it...!_'  
'_Aw, c'mon Agito! It's not everyday someone speaks up to you, if you ask me, I think she's brave!_'

Ringo noiced Ikki and paced towards him to see what he wanted. When she reached him, he pointed,  
"You see that chick that just nailed Agito? I think that she's homeless."

After saying this, he then pointed to Izumi and Naodan,  
"Those two, too. C'mon Ringo, please? I feel kind of bad ditching them.. we can keep em' for a week, right? Just a week, at least? Seriously,… I don't think Mikan cares, and Rika's at work or whatever…"  
Ringo glared up at Ikki almost in disbelief, "But Ikki--!, We already took in one of your crazy friends…!" she looked unassuredly to the Osakans, "Mmmm…." she mumbled, sighing, as guild crept up her spine and Ikki gave her the look, "Alright… Agito! Come here, and bring our new…house mate… with you…!" she ordered.

Agito stared at Ringo in incredulity, "**WHAT**?!" he roared.  
Her reply was a glower of authority.  
He sighed, angrily, and mumbled angry things under his angry breath, then reluctantly stalked towards Ringo, not bothering to tell the fish to come. The Fang King heard a clearing of the fish's throat and he seized a hookstrap and lassoed it behind him: it short over Sakanako's head and with his next stride, caught her hood, thus pulling her along with him.

His victim released a choking noise before hopping wackily after him, unbalanced and on one foot.  
After getting used to the speed of his walk, she caught her balance and skated casually behind him.

Ikki smiled at Sakanako's chest as he freed the Osakan from Agito's hell descendant of a hook.  
"Hey! Leader of Elvenride and Wetblanket Girl! Get over here, you're crashing with us for a while!"

Sakanako looked around to find that Spitfire and Simca were missing. Her eyes sunk before she exhaled in distress and turned to face her hosts, "How'd you know that we weren't staying anywhere?" she asked, dully.  
"It was freakin' obvious! Just take a look at your clothes! What? Were you trying to hide it, or something?"


	5. New Arrivals

The water once held in a pitcher hit the tile with a hissing splat. The water was ridiculously scalding. Sakanako, nude, let out a satisfied sigh as her body was cleansing. Her green eyes looked to Naodan who was soaking in the tub. She smiled, "It's been a while since I've had a bath," she mentioned, commonly, as her slender fingers lathered shampoo into the strands of her dark hair.  
Naodan smiled pleasantly, her hair a darker shade of seafoam than usual, due to the water, and the usual wisps that adorned her cheeks were flattened against the water's surface. She giggled, her lips pulling over her white teeth that sat promptly in her small set jaw.

Outstretching all of her limbs in the burning water with a content sigh, she cooed, "Oooh, Sakanako. It feels so good to be clean again " she then crossed her arms over the ledge of the bath tub, and peered up at Sakanako with her glittering pink eyes. She smiled coyly, "So… you like Spitfire." she said in a matter-of-fact tone, though it was silvery and light. A small hand shot up in front of her as she was to deny Sakanako's denial; "And don't tell me I'm wrong, Tsuru. You looked at him with…" she pinched a cheek and it ripened to a light pink, "…cute blushy cheeks and big sparkly eyes!" she tweeted, remembering her friends love-sick expression. Sakanako released a breath, as if caught red-handed; then, she smiled a bit and replied, "Well…, he's awesome." internally wanting to explain so much more to her childhood friend, she couldn't bring herself to fully speak her feelings of Spitfire, because she was aware that it made her sound absurdly frilly, something that she didn't usually want to be heard as.

She stood up, pearls of clear water trailing down her curves like liquid capillaries, "Move over. I'm getting in," she alarmed, bluntly, before slipping into the tub and closing her eyes. She began to visualize Spitfire in her mind, "…I'm going to see him again," her voice was determined, yet drenched in tranquility, "—and I'm going to get together with him."  
Naodan scooted over for Sakanako, smiling at her. "You think you can, Tsuru? I mean, you're…" she stopped. "Nevermind. You're right." she concluded, arms now folded over the tub again. Her calm smile returned, and she glanced to Sakanako, awaiting a returned gaze.

"I can." Sakanako stated defensively. Did her friend not believe her?

* * *

Mikan grinned evilly, "As men of the house, you hafta set up the futons for our female guests!"  
Ikki snarled, "Hell no!"  
Mikan's eye twitched, "If YOU won't do it, I'll tell Rika about your sorry-ass report cards that you keep hiding!!" her arms flew over her chest, crossed as she glowered at the crow, light pink hair perkier than usual. Her gritted teeth were visible as the corners of her mouth stretched, revealing healthy gums.  
Ikki began blubbering as he walked towards the garage, where the ancient futons lurked, "C'mon guys, it's useless now. Mikan's more stubborn than a bull…" he heard the Noyamano laugh proudly at his attempted insult.

Izumi followed dully, "It's not that bad; just gettin' the girls some stuff to sleep on," he mumbled, hooking the dog collar around his neck with his forefinger. Then, as his own voice cued, he thought of the girls. "Uh, where, exactly, are the girls?" he asked, loping ahead of Ikki easily.  
Last he remembered, they'd said something about a bath.  
Akito skipped along-side Ikki before turning to face Izumi, "They're in the bath tub! I wanted to join them, you know, so I could talk and get to know them a little better, but then Sakanako-chan almost killed me; I figured I'd try again some other time…"  
Ikki's eye twitched and he looked to his gay follower, confused, "Killed you?" he figured that Sakanako must've been one of those violent ones. A world champion nagger, like Mikan.

The kind of girl he hated to put up with.

Akito nodded and then chirped as he pulled a dust infested futon from the garage, "Yep! Nao-chan was okay with it when I explained Agito to her, and that I was gay, but Sakanako-chan didn't bother to listen. She called me an ass." his face saddened and he tugged helplessly on the futon, unable to drag it; he exerted a squeak—a pathetic, high-pitched squeak.  
Then, Ikki helped him by lifting the other end of the futon, watching Izumi, "So,… what are girls from Osaka like? Are they easy like everyone says they are?" maybe he could get into Nao's pants, but he was pretty sure he couldn't even get a sock off of Sakanako.

Izumi laughed mockingly.  
"Honestly, they're probably harder to get than your Tokyo girls. A lot harder. Hitting on them is like bringing a girl on her period into a weapon cellar – It's dangerous." he chuckled, using one of his many metaphors, "Even the sweet ones are conniving," he said, referring to Naodan, thoughtfully.

Then, he yanked up a futon.

* * *

((: Later that Night :))

Sakanako double-clicked the computer mouse and scrolled down the Google result page. Her eyes narrowed as if to try and read the screen's small font.  
"…member of the team, Genesis… One of the 8 Kings that can often be seen with Simca the Swallow, although no romantic relationship has been recorded between the two of them…" she recited in a whisper before rolling down the page some more, "…he normally practices along Sezuru Bridge during the night and around Gate Fubuki during the day."  
She smiled, satisfied, and then looked him up on MySpace. When she reached his page, she looked over his profile, smiling now almost maniacally.  
A song began to blare through the speakers, "HOPE DANGLES ON A STRING, LIKE SLOW SPINNING Rredempt…" Sakanako scrambled for the volume knob and looked around, panicked, as she scatterly dispatched the Internet and shut down the computer.

She had to leave. Fast.

* * *

Akito sat up sacredly, and looked around. The music was gone. Ghosts, maybe?  
'What was that?' he began to shiver, 'I'm scared… Agito? Can you investigate and go turn down the air?' then, the boy shifted the eye patch over. Agito.  
Ikki was snoring obnoxiously beside him and sleep talked something about Osakan women, "fnrrr…sss…"  
'I think it was from the computer room…'

"No, probably some idiot that's wasting what's left of his worthless life on the computer," he growled, shoving his arms beneath the pillow. The cool surface brushed against the bare skin on his forearm comfortably, and he nestled his cheek into the lush white.  
Agito curled up contently, pulling the blanket above his shoulder.

So…  
comfortable.  
So…  
relaxing.  
So…  
FUCKING LOUD!!

He shoved himself upward, shooting a menacing glare at Ikki.  
With a sudden swipe of his hand, he shoved his pillow against Ikki's face, rage consuming him as he crushed the soft pillow against all of Ikki's facial features, until the snore was muffled.

The pillow remained there, crushed, for a moment, threatening to smother and steal Ikki's life.  
His anger was controlled, and he was growing conscious of Akito again.  
Agito sighed, the sound of a snarl against the quiet of the house, and he walked down the hallway towards the computer room, "Oh, fuck this. I'm not doing this. I'm tired." he disagreed with his curiosity.

He paused.

"What the hell is anyone doing up this late?! I can't sleep and you fucking woke me up!" he hissed, opening the door of the computer room, expecting to see Onigiri looking at porn, or something.  
To his surprise, no one was in the room except a blinding screensaver of fish swimming across the monitor, and the quiet singing of Spitfire's MySpace.

Agito stared blankly at the scene, "…"  
'See: no one.' He thought, before stamping off to his own room. When he passed the door to Ikki's, he promptly delivered him a punch in the face, after he heard him snoring again. Then, he somewhat hurriedly left and took off to his own bedroom, Akito giggling, yet scolding his alter ego inside his mind.


	6. Ignited Feelings

"You come here often?"  
Sakanako's voice was shaking of nervousness although she appeared casual.  
The flames lining the bridge died. The Flame King grinned at her before anwsering, "Ofcourse, but if you came her often, you'd know that."  
He skated towards her, sparks of heat following. Th-thump.

She felt her throat clog and she smiled and closed her eyes, 'Stay cool, stay cool…'  
When she opened them, Spitfire was standing about 2 feet away from her. Th-thump.  
"So, Miss Flying Fish, what brings you to Sezuru Bridge?"  
Th-thump.  
"Actually I—uh,.." she looked to her feet.

'Actually, I googled you up and checked out your MySpace so I could find you because I love you.'

"—I just heard this was a good spot to see the moon reflect on the water," she ginished, remembering his MySpace page, and all the things it had told her.  
"A coincidence! Me too, actually, that's the only reason I made this my territory." He was genuinely happy, thinking the two had something in common. He didn't know she was lying.

"R-Really?"  
Th-thump.

"Yes. I'm finished for the night, so why don't we just sit down, watch the full moon and chat for a while?" Chat? With her?  
"I wanted to talk to you about something." Talk to her? About something?  
"Yeah, okay , sure." Sakanako anwsered quickly, before swinging her legs over the ledge of the bridge and internally becoming anxious. Did he feel the same way?

He sat down too, and scooted towards her, "Odd. Most girls are a little cautious of high places like this.."  
Now that he mentioned it, she realized she was horrified of the ledge.  
She lied again, "Oh…yeah? No, I'm fine with it.."  
"Anyways, starting tomorrow and meeting at the Ichirou Train Station, I want you and your team to begin training under me."

Sakanako looked to him to see that he was staring seriously back at her. She felt herself melt under his carmine optics. She looked away, "…Yeah?"

"Yes. I may be hopping to conclusions, but I'm sure I'm right. You'll understand tomorrow. One more thing, bring the Fang King with you. You've taken a flirtatious liking to him, so that shouldn't be a problem." How wrong he was. So, so wrong.  
Sakanako bit her lip, his words poking their barbs into her emotions, "Spitfire,.. I—"  
"Yes?" Th-thump.  
"…it's nothing."  


The male puffed a laugh through his nose as he smiled at her, "I suppose I ought to attempt n' get some sleep. I'm drowsy." He stood up, his firey hair shifting slightly with a small breeze that had picked up. She stood up too.  
"So long, then."  
Her heart stung.

"Later."


	7. Chosen

* * *

((: The following day :))

"Agito, dammit, c'mon!! We need you there, because Spitfire said so!" Sakanako yanked on the tail of the boy's jacket. She had been arguing with him for about 5 minutes now, "Pleeease, Agito, PLEEEEEEASEEEEEEE!" she begged, tugging on the jacket as hard as she could.  
Ikki groaned, "Agito, what's your deal, man? Seriously, just go. You always hafta make a big scene out of everything. You're flirting with her, dumbass. Playing hard to get isn't going to get you anywhere; Osakan women are apparently not as easy as everyone says they are." he was really wondering what Spitfire wanted with Elvenride and not Kogarasumaru, so he planned to use Agito as a spy.  
He stared at Agito, forcefully, trying to send telepathic brainwaves that commanded him to go.

"Uggggh. I'm not flirting with him; I'm trying to get his ass to the effing train tracks. WE'RE SUPPOSED TO BE THERE ALREADY!!" Sakanako denied. Her eyes dulled, clearly illuminating of annoyance.  
Ikki started laughing, "I didn't accuse YOU of flirting I accused HIM!" he pointed out, before he shifted his posture and started to scratch his chin, suspiciously, "Come to think of it, you were flirting yesterday, too." he added.  
Sakanako's eyes rolled; "Whatever you say..." she wasn't really caring anymore. She just wanted to see Spitfire again. What could he want with their team, anyways? They were a bunch of newbs. They had gotten their ass kicked by Kogarasumaru.

Meneko felt the need to contribute to the conversation, "Oh, don't worry Ikki-kun, I assure you, that she's not trying to flirt." She looked to Agito and smiled, warmly, "Aki-kun, you shouldn't take Sakanako so seriously. She's not usually interested in two people, after all." the lolita winked cutely at the blue-haired male and she could see Sakanako fidgeting impatiently in the corner of her eye.  
The fish spat something and then added, "Fine then. Don't come. It's probably just something having to do with the 8 Kings. I'll just tell them you quit." there was a whir of her cheap wheels before she SLOWLY began to skate off. She was trying to get him to follow of his own free will.

Ikki continued to leer at Agito. 'Go, you bastard. Go, dumbass.'

"Ha! If it had to do with the eight kings, then they wouldn't call on you fuckers!" the Fang King mocked, crossing his arms. But as Sakanako's back grew smaller, he made a face; his irritation volumized.  
Then he skated, after Elvenride, muttering something about "not flirting" beneath his breath, the sound so low that it was almost a hiss.  
He quickly wheeled ahead of the group, and then slowed to match their speed. His skates glided lightly against the black top of the road, skidding with a quiet "whir" of his own wheels, for his strides were long and lagging, to him.

Sakanako smiled slyly.  
Got him.

* * *

((: At the tracks :))

""When the requested group arrived at the train tracks, Spitfire and 2 other kings (3 if you include Agito) had gathered around the railings and proposed that the Elvenride team run some tests that the 8 Kings designed for them.  
It was unclear to the 3 Kings (excluding Spitfire) to why they were there until their regalia reacted to 3 of the members' tests.  
Sakanako, Naodan and Izumi.  
The regalia, however, did NOT respond to Meneko or Hasuei, so they were immediately dismissed.""

Sakanako was utterly confused when Spitfire muttered something about "the 3 Masses" to himself.  
One of the kings, Hikari, queen of the Light Road, looked over the Osakans. Her aquamarine eyes closed and in a serious voice, her lips parted, "I understand you are probably somewhat confused…"  
Another one of the kings, a boy with jet black hair continued on, "The regalia respond to another king or sky god's aura… in this case, they responded to yours…"  
Sakanako looked to Spitfire for reassurance and he nodded his head, confirming the 2 kings' earlier statements.  
"This hasn't ever 'appened before, but as the legend says, the 3 Masses have finally come to Tokyo to reclaim their masterless regalia," the Australian King pulled out 3 devices and held them out to their designated master, "Sakanako, you are master of the Tidal Regalia, goddess of the Wave Road…" he handed her the small wheel and then extended the other two regalia towards Naodan and Izumi, "Naodan, you now own the Ice Regalia, and Izumi, you're the master of the Rocket Regalia."  
Sakanako felt adrenaline rush through her veins,

"So you're tossing out regalias like freebies because your regalias responded to us? Does that not sound completely retarded to you?"

The male king with the black hair replied, "Not at all. There are only 3 masters for the 3 Silent Regalia in the entire world; those masters just happen to be you three. Unlike out regalia, yours can only be used by their chosen masters; in other words, you."  
"Mizune's right. It has to be you." Hikari elaborated.  
Spitfire took a step towards the 3 Masses, "Understand that Storm Riders will kill to get their hands on your regalia… until you three have learned to control them, I will protect you from anyone who tries to tangle with you."

Sakanako's heart was thudding under her hoodie. She felt a wave of nausea as Hikari's voice resonated once again, "Eventually, the time will come when you have to defeat the 8 Kings. Each of you, one on one… you will advance to the Grand Five and later on to PEACE.NOW. You'll have to surpass everyone to make it to the top." This triggered a smartass reflect in Sakanako, causing her head to turn to Agito with a fox-like grin, 'Hear that, Fang King? You're gonna be at our feet when this is all over.'

Spitfire had become their guardian.  
"As representative of the 3 Masses I will follow through as far as I can and guide you to the top of the tropaeium (sp). I'll also challenge the other 7 Kings and Grand Five, and hereby accept my duty."

It was all moving so fast.  
So, so fast.

Spitfire looked over to Agito, Mizune and Hikari, "Understand? I'm going to advance in class and follow the Masses. I've been a King for too long…" his voice sounded like it concealed behind his words, "I'm going to become a god."  
Hikari and Mizune became inspired and internally thought about ranking up, but they knew the truth. The King rank was as far as they went, and if they attempted to move on like Spitfire, it was possible for them to lose their title, their regalia, and the world of Air Trecks, period. They couldn't bring themselves to risk that passion. They simply didn't trust their abilities so much as to hang it on the line.

Izumi scowled. Excel? In Osaka they were already A-rank, so why did it matter? How long were they going to be here, anyways? Personally, he was homesick. He was also sick of the big city, where the only faces he could recognize where those of his childhood friends… and what were Meneko and Hasuei going to do? Questioned taunted him, each hoping to seize the opportunity to be spoken, but he held his tongue. His brown eyes fell upon the regalia he held.  
Immediately, he crinkled his nose with impatience. Now he wanted to try them out.  
"Okay, so whatever. We're done, right?" he growled impatiently, tucking the regalia beneath his arm.

Agito shot him a menacing glare. "You get Regalia thrown at you, especially, and all you can do is spit your complaints at us? Don't waste or time if all your lame-ass can do is bark complaints. Didn't you hear…? People would KILL for those…" he warned, eyeing Izumi's regalia resentfully. He couldn't understand; why did these idiots get the regalia? Why where THESE idiots the 3 Masses?! It infuriated him!  
But he simply scoffed and muttered beneath his breath, "Lucky bastards. None of you could skate if your worthless lives depended on it." It was (basically) unheard.

Spitfire smiled warmly until Agito started snapping at the masses. Sakanako sighed and placed a hand on Agito's small shoulder, "Easy, Sharky, easy…" she looked to Izumi and groaned a bit, "But then again, maybe you SHOULD try to be a little more thankful, Izumi." she tried her best to defend Spitfire to make him NOTICE her.

"Oh, but it's understandable. After all, you few are a bunch of country bumpkins who don't comprehend the importance of the regalia." The Flame King stood hipshot now, "I'm sure Agito can teach you how to use your regalia. I'm too busy; I have to run back to the salon."  
Sakanako felt her stomach drop as Spitfire waved and later ditched. Hikari and Mizune had already mysteriously disappeared.  
Then, the fish turned to Agito, waiting expectantly for him to begin teaching. She inserted the drive into the back of her rollerblades and then returned to staring at him, stupidly.

Agito gritted his teeth at his sudden responsibility that he'd been roped into without his consent.  
"What?! How am I supposed to teach a bunch of hopeless morons like you?!" he growled, shooting a glance at all of them. Not that he was completely upset, though; teaching these dorks could possibly help him rank up, himself. He'd be damned if they got farther than he did. It'd be a cold day in hell.  
He quieted, glaring at each of them individually. When they'd all gotten prepared, each wearing their regalia properly, he skated to a stop behind them, "At least learn to skate," he hissed, in a demanding tone. "I doubt any of you could TURN to save your lives. Race each other… do SOMETHING!"

Sakanako green hues dimmed, "We CAN skate, Sharky. We're here to learn how to use our regalia." she crossed her arms and then looked to Agito over her shoulder.  
"Stop procrastinating, now's the time for you to earn our respect. Well, mine anyways. So far, none earned. You suck." She began to skate away from him, "C'mon Izumi, Nao. I'm sure we can figure out how to work the regalia by ourselves. And if we can't, we'll just try and get a hold of Spitfire when he's not busy. I'm sure we'll learn well from him, since he's stronger and way cooler than this asshole." she sounded uninterested.  
Once again, she was spouting out her thoughts, like she always did. It proved to piss Agito off.  
She used her brake and slowly came to a stop, "Well? Are you two coming? I MIGHT stay if Sharky here gets his foot outta his mouth."

"You pieces of shit!! You should be grateful I even came here to teach your sorry asses!! You won't learn a damn thing from that self-proclaimed badass!" he spat, immediately wheeling to a halt in front of their group that had been leaving.

He looked to Sakanako, "You first, Freshmeat."


	8. Tigers

_After a long night of Agito's attempt at teaching, the 3 Masses return home to Ikki's and take a night's rest. The next morning, the 3 Masses are enrolled in the local high school and are told to attend the coming Monday. Today is Saturday, and Kogarasumaru has gathered along with Elvenride where they (Kogarasumaru) have set up a Parts War for Elvenride against the team once known as Sabeltiger. Because Sabeltiger is no longer an official team, it does not risk anyone's emblem and is sort of a practice match to prepare Elvenride for the real deal._

* * *

((: Saturday :))

Sakanako was pissed off at Ikki, "Why the heck are you making us fight a team that you've already beaten?! This is a total waste! If we win, it won't even count!"  
Ikki crossed his arms before squinting angrily at the fish, "It's cuz' we're trying to see how much you suck before throwing you into the lion's pit!"  
Meneko sighed and looked over to Izumi, "I really don't want to do this…" she notified him, quietly.  
Ikki butted into the lolita's attempted conversation, "Yeah? And why the hell not?!"  
"BECAUSE IT WOULDN'T MATTER EITHER WAY!!" Sakanako rebuked, turning the crow to face her by the shoulder.

Izumi watched passively. There was an impatient sigh, before he thunked Sakanako on the head, lightly, "Sakanako, shut up. You think I want to risk my team's skating career for your stupid pride?" he growled, reaching his arm behind her and gripping her face to the point that his wrist blocked her vision, and his fingertips seized the temple closest to him.

He looked to Ikki, "We'll do it," he assured the crow, eyes serious.

"And you need to practice using your Regalia more, so shut the fuck up!" Agito hissed at Sakanako.  
"It's not like you're almighty and don't need the practice," Izumi added, mending Agito's words into a nicer fashion.

"I'll practice on my own. I'm not battling, Izumi." Sakanako continued, although not as irritated as before because the fingers that gripped her face calmed her in a strange sort of way.  
She grabbed the team leader's forearm and pushed it away, making him let go of her face. She walked away for a second and then turned to Agito, who was really starting to push her buttons,  
"Shut up. Don't get your thong in a knot." Why did he keep talking to her?  
She really hated the idea of a practice match. She loved the high strung feeling of risking her Air Trecks. She just wanted to practice using the regalia with Spitfire. Not fighting some forgotten disbanded team.  
"I'm going home," she muttered, before waving apathetically at the group.

Ikki was snarling and glaring into the back of the girl's skull, "What is with you?! We're just trying to help you out! God!" he barked, "Piss off!"

Natsumi, leader of the disbanded team, arrived and she smiled, sweetly, until she saw Sakanako,  
"Hey um, what's going on?" she questioned, innocently.  
"That girl over there is making a big deal over nothing. Nevermind her though, she's probably just finding an excuse to go hook up with Spitfire, for all that's worth," Ikki replied, sharply.

Hasuei groaned before looking to Izumi, "Well, so what do we do now?"  
Izumi ignored Hasuei and scoffed at Sakanako, "Yeah, whatever. Just ditch me for your stupid Spitfire," he called, his mouth curving into a distinguishing pout.  
"Yeah, I will." Sakanako responded, unaffected at his attempt to keep her there.

Natsumi was almost impatient, "What's up? You guys scared or something?" she proposed. She slowly removed her Sabeltiger jacket, uncurtaining her bronze complexion in an almost stripperish manner.  
Her forest optics leered at the back of Sakanako,  
"Even if Sabeltiger is disbanded, it won't take much to kick your team's ass."  
"Yeah, yeah. Have fun." the fish mumbled, before she leapt off into the air, leaving a miniature ripple of seismic activity and a crater behind. Her regalia.

Ikki's lower lip poked out in annoyance, "She's such a bitch…"; It was a quiet remark.  
Then, he turned to Izumi and grinned dumbly again, "Well, you're still up for it, aren't you?"

Izumi nodded in Ikki's direction, but his eyes were set upon some equally brown skin. He skitted towards the tigers' leader, his eyes still deeply engrossed on her curves, but he grinned, despite himself.  
"MY team won't be beaten so easily, Bronze girl. And don't think your body's gonna distract me. I'll be too far ahead of you to see it, but I'll look at it now, if you want." he teased, still not making eye contact with her REAL eyes.  
To play off his innocence, he shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans and straightened out his arms until his shoulders lifted into a playful shrug, "Even with four people, we can practice, I guess."

Natsumi smiled cutesily and stuck her tongue out, "Don't take me too seriously, okay? I'm sure this'll be a lot of fun, ya know?" But really, she knew what he was looking at, and if she could stay ahead of him and talk with him, she was sure to win. "Go easy on me, okay Hotdog?" It was sweet.  
Some of Sabeltiger's old members were chuckling. They knew what Natsumi was doing.  
Ikki did too, but didn't say anything about it. Izumi would have to figure it out on his own.

Meneko had shyly approached Agito, but she didn't know what to say to him, because he seemed to be in his own world of anger. She tensed as his yellow eyes passed over her, his brow furrowing into a savage glare as usual, "What the hell do you want?" he growled, frustrated, because his attention was grabbed easier than he would've liked it to be.  
Meneko shrunk a bit. Suddenly, she searched her mind for words, "Well… I'm a little…" she gulped,  
"You were so sweet before…" Was he in a bad mood?  
In response, the blue-haired male grinned mockingly. "You stupid bitch. That wasn't me. At least learn who I am instead of going along with your moronic assumptions. I'm Agito, not Akito, dumbass." he snarled. The corner of his mouth twitched ever so slightly.  


"So you're an actor… Okay. I understand now," the female winked, "Agito." she understood that actors were constantly roleplaying. He must've been no different.

"Okay, so is everything settled?" the crow's voice announced in interruption, as he looked over to the lolita and Agito, "Damn, Agito. When'd you become such a player?"  
Meneko giggled.  
Agito growled at Ikki, "I'm not interested in a single one of these stupid whores!! And I'm not an actor, you dumb bitch, I'm a loon! An alternate personality! Can't you understand?!" he roared, throwing his hands up, as fury sent convulsions through his fingers and they twitched, as did his right eye.

Him? Interested in anyone? Impossible. As long as the sky was blue, it would never happen.

"Ofcourse I understand," Meneko lied.  
If he were REALLY crazy, he wouldn't admit it.  
'So he's roleplaying a victim of DID. That might be fun…'

"And I want you to know that I can help you, I actually took a psychology class back'n Osaka." She stuck her tongue out, playfully. She started to giggle again when he imploded with even more anger.

By this time, the practice had begun.


	9. Touching Fire

"A disbanded team, pff, yeah, like I'd be caught dead challenging them. From what I hear Ikki's supposed to be the next Sky King or whatever, so it's not like—" Sakanako stopped talking to herself when she saw a thin cut of fire slash against the surface of Tokyo's streets. Found him. As a small smile touched the puff of her lips, the female began her descend, flipping and spiraling gracefully.  
On her way down, she caught glimpse of a water tower with what looked like a Sleeping Forest sticker posted upon its dull grey metal surface. She saw Spitfire skating the opposing direction; skating away from her. But he wasn't running away. He was cueing her for something; she could see him waving his arms above his head, but not too dramatically.

She began to ponder, '_What are you cueing me for? To Stop? Follow? Land?_'

With slight hesitance, she took a stab at her third option and landed, her wheels driving a deep indention into the gravel; an indention with the diameter of 7 feet. There was a wave of geographical damage that dissolved after about 5 yards from the circle of embracement.  
Spitfire made his way towards the female, angrily, "Are you insane?! You can't carelessly land with the Tidal Regalia in activation! Didn't Agito tell you that?!"

Why yes, he had. Had she remembered, though?  
Nope. Oops.

But she wouldn't admit that. "What do you mean…?"  
Spitfire, in response looked upwards in aggravation, "That ass…" he muttered, under his breath. He placed a hand on the girl's shoulder and then sighed, "I s'ppose it's not your fault, then. C'mon." he led her off, but not towards the train station, where she could've sworn he was going to take her. He was directing her towards a small café/bookstore that was nestled promptly between two designer stores on one of the minor streets of the city. She was confused, but didn't speak as Spitfire took a seat at one of the couple tables. One of the waitresses, who apparently knew him, immediately came to him.

"May I take your order, Mr. Spitfire? It's nice to see you again." her voice was high pitched.  
"Yes. I'd like a tall mocha… and, well, Sakanako, you can order while I go get the books." He pulled out a credit card and placed it on the table before getting up and rolling off into the distance of the bookshelves.  
Sakanako, on the other hand, took her time thinking over her order, and then eventually placed it. The waitress nodded and then took the credit card that Spitfire had left, after jealously shooting the fish a dirty look.

A few moments passed before Spitfire returned. Sakanako had been nervously staring at her lap. He laughed a little, before sitting a few books on the table top, "Why _**that**_ look? Are you alright?"

She looked up at him, blushing ever so slightly, and then looked back to her thighs, "Well, uh… I…"  
"What did you order? It wasn't very expensive, whatever it was," Spitfire mentioned.  
"Yeah… uhm, Spitfire, I've been meaning to tell you something."  
"Ah, yes? You want to share don't you? Is that why this mocha is so big?"  
Damn, he was sharp.  


"Yep." She smiled and swallowed bubbles of spit that had clogged at the top of her throat.  
He chuckled and she joined in a bit. She began to wonder how she would tell him about her feelings. This little crush she had developed wasn't so little anymore. It reminded her it existed constantly.

"So, I brought you some books. And, as you can see, a magazine also. I want you to read them…"

Sakanako's focus was lost for several seconds, during his explanation of the books.  
'_Well, are you ever gonna tell him, dumbass?_'

"…and this book is about the systems and codes of Storm Riders." He finished. She gulped.  
"Spitfire," the name wavered on her tremoring tongue.  
He arched a brow, curiously, "Yes? What is it?"  
"—I…"  
This was harder than she had thought. She could feel the gazes of all the coffeeholics in the café.

"…I want to get to know you more. I like you a whole lot and uhm… "she laughed, nervously, her hand scratching the back of her layered dark hair, "… I was wondering if, I bet you get this a lot, since your all popular and stuff, but –"

Spitfire had set down the mocha and he watched her, smiling politely, the way he always did, waiting for the female to finish. He already knew what she was asking, and on a normal basis, he would probably turn her down. But, because she was one of the Masses, he couldn't help but be somewhat interested, and the girl herself had compelled him, and he found himself kind of attached to her. He was patient.

"-- I want to go out with you, I mean if that's okay with you. Obviously, aheh," she was recovering.

She looked kind of surprised when Spitfire continued to smile as if she hadn't asked him anything. He shifted in his seat, "Normally, I would refuse. I'm busy with the salon, with the regalia and what not…" he paused, giving her a second to have a heart attack, "… But you **are** one of the 3 Masses. It won't hurt to get to know you, since I'll probably be around you a lot. Why not? Sure, we'll go steady."

The fish looked somewhat hurt that he had emphasized the part about because she was one of the Masses. She didn't want to ask him about it, she should've been satisfied as it was, but she couldn't help but look somewhat disappointment.  
But Spitfire, as recognized earlier, was sharp. And he caught every little bit of it.

"…I'm not dating you because you're one of the Masses, Sakanako. I want to get to know you better."

He smiled when her eyes brightened.


	10. Call of Reasoning

* * *

((: After returning from the Practice Match :))

"…so yeah, I'm not coming home tonight. I'm at Spitfire's but,… I think I'll be home tomorrow—"the message machine snickered, and Spitfire's Australian accent was quietly audible in the distance, "—maybe. Yeeeeeah… in the morning? No, probably the next day. Okay. The day after tomorrow. I'll be back. You guys need to shut your face. Layduh, all." Beep.

Mikan sent a glare towards Ikki accusingly, "You are the worst guardian I have ever SEEN!!" she barked, before delivering a well-deserved kick in the shin. Ikki "yoww"ed before hobbling behind Ringo, "Help me, Ringo!" he squeaked, whining with over coated patheticness.  
Mikan wasn't through, "Look! Because of you, Spitfire's gonna get her pregnant with an Australian kid, and **we'll** have to take care of it!"

Ikki rolled his eyes at the reaction. "Not me! Not my fault! Spitfire can take care of his own damned kid!"  
"Do you _**really**_ believe that?!"  
"Hell yeah I do! It's **his** kid!"  
"You are such a frickin' dumbass to believe that!" she began to stomp towards him, and he ducked behind Ringo's shoulder, who in return turned her head to look at him.

Momentarily bewildered, Ringo glanced back to Mikan and decided to defend her crush, "…She can watch her own baby, Mikan. Besides, we don't have anything to do with her and Spitfire," she reasoned. There was a gap of pause, "—But no more friends are going to be living here." she scolded Ikki, turning to glare at him, "There's no reason we'd have to watch one, but if a baby starts running around here, it's your responsibility, too, Ikki!" she ordered, crossing her arms and leering at him from beneath her lenses.  
"My res--?! Hey! No it's not! She should take care of her own freakin' kid!" Ikki retorted, distastefully as Mikan smirked and then began to strut towards her videogames.  
There was a moment before the crow mumbled and then, gradually, a smile formed, "Maybe if I help her with the kid, she'll treat me like her husband…" he sounded a tad slurry, and his eyes hazed with perverted glory.  
"That's the spirit." Mikan called dully, before taking a seat.

Izumi watched the message machine, unable to control his expression. He was almost sad, "I guess… she's growing up, is all. This is normal… ain't it?"  
Ikki caught Izumi's remark and lifted an eyebrow, "Hey man, cheer up. You're bringing down the air."  
The male he addressed, still, simply frowned, "I used to take baths with her when we were little kids… and now she's letting some strange guy from Tokyo… y'know," he whimpered. Then, he glared at Ikki, "He's—" he scoffed a little bit and shook his head, "She's like a sister and it's gross!"

Naodan shook her head at him, "Sakanako's a big girl now, Izumi. You've gotta let her go sometime."  
"I don't wanna!" he retorted, stubbornly.  
"I guess it doesn't matter what you want, does it?" she snapped back, impatient, because the male kept arguing with her, "I imagine that right now, she's… 3#" her voice trailed.  
He only glared at her angrily, a low growl arising from the depths of his throat.

Ikki felt a warm sensation snake down to his crotch and he wailed, "Helllll yeah! Spitfire's so god-damned lucky! I wish I could get a head! Ughhh, I want it, I want it, I want it!" he was in desperation. He imagined the feeling Spitfire had right now, and damn, it felt good. He was the exact opposite of Izumi, well, his declarations were, anyways  
Izumi and Naodan glared, simultaneously, at Ikki, "Shut up!" they both shouted, each voice a different octave, hers, silvery, and his, the lower, richer flip-side. But, despite their glares, there was another's more menacing. That glare belonged to Ringo.

"You're imagining _**that**_ girl, aren't you Ikki?!" she bit, her voice harsh and demanding as she inclined her body towards his, only to emphasize her anger. Her pale fingers were curled into fists against her sides and her shoulders were arched in a furious manner.

'_Urrrghhh! You're such a pervert, Ikki! But why out of all the people do you have to love stupid Simca?! And now you're imagining this girl?!'_ her thoughts raged, as she waited for what excuse he would make.  
"Sheesh, Ringo, why're you so mad?" he muttered, before backing away from the Noyamano, "And why does it matter to you who I'm imagining? And you two—" he whirled and pointed a finger to Nao and Izumi, "**You** shut up! Why so defensive? I'm not the one having sex with your friend right now! If it bothers you, call her up. We _**do**_ have caller ID, y'know."

Ringo's eye twitched, "Stop trying to change the subject!" she commanded the crow.  
"I'm _**not**_ changing the subject, Ringo, I already told you, **yeah** I **did** imagine her. What's your problem? You can be a real nagger sometimes." Ikki rustled the back of his hair a little bit, before he glanced to Agito who was standing a distance away. It looked as if he had just finished debating with himself, "Stop talking to yourself; Well, at least do it a little less obviously. What are you two arguing about, anyways?"

Izumi gasped. "Really?!" then, he grabbed the phone and called Spitfire's house.

* * *

Spitfire had just pulled away for some air when the phone rang obnoxiously on the end table. Sakanako was fazed, and really couldn't comprehend what was going on. The Flame King lent down and whispered something in her ear before he picked up the phone, "Yes, Hello?" his hand ventured to Sakanako's face and he caressed her affectionately with his thumb as he spoke.  
The fish had been remembering all he had told her. About how he wanted to unravel her. To open her. He wanted to get to know the real her. In her heart, she kept to herself how he wouldn't love the **real** her. She kept to herself that she was portraying the image of his perfect match, and that she wasn't really this sort of person. She was scared of losing him, the one that she admired so deeply.  
Her thoughts were interrupted when he slid the phone to her ear and mouthed, "It's for you."  
He lost interest in caressing her face and then moved onto planting light kisses on her naval. She felt puffs of warm air as he laughed quietly against her skin.

"H-hello?" her jaw clenched in annoyance when she heard who was on the other line, "…what." Her snarl was quiet, due to Spitfire's presence, but on normal occasion, she would've amplified the volume about 3 times as much as she did at this particular moment.

* * *

Izumi, on the other end of the line, sounded frantic, "Don't do it, Sakanako. Your innocence! Why would you do that to me? You're gonna lose it before I do? Are you kidding me?! I'm older than you. You're still _**little**_. He's a creep, because… he's—he's older than you! **AND** he's older than me!" he blubbered stupidly, his voice becoming pleading while he spat ridiculous things into the phone. "Please…?" he finally finished, releasing the words like a pressing sigh, "It's not supposed to be like this… you're supposed to be a virgin 'til you're 80!" he continued.

But even over Izumi's voice, there was another that excelled in volume. It shot into a rage like a canon, bursting and shattering Izumi's pleads with its own unidentifiable pitch, for it cracked severely on some notes. It was Agito, "**AKITO!!**" the adolescent boy demanded, only to be disappointed with no reply from his subconciousness.  
After a long moment of comprehension, he looked to Ikki, his expression taking on the synopsis of a dulled, uninterested pout, "Nothing important." He answered to Ikki. Then, he noticed the phone and a glimmer of an idea flashed across their depths, "Akito was just talking about that stupid whore, Sakanako." he said, loudly enough, and with added emphasis on "slut", for Sakanako to hear.

Heard or not, Naodan grabbed the phone from Izumi and wobbled away before he could snatch it back, "Sakanako, deerio#, don't forget protection, 'cause I'm too young to be an aunt, alright?" she giggled, dodging Izumi's attempts to pluck it from her grasp.  
"D-don't say that!" he ordered Nao, only to be ignored.  
After a few seconds of this, Izumi got it back, "…please?"

* * *

Normally, Sakanako would've yelled at the for calling for such a stupid reason. But, once again, Spitfire's presence kept her whispering and vague in answer, "…No. I'm going to… and tell Agito to shut up and leave me alone. He needs to get his nose out of people's business. Bye." she hung up, not waiting for a reply and almost groaned. Spitfire's fingers were playing with the buttons of Sakanako's blue jeans, "Who was that 'nyways?" he questioned, casually, before tugging gently at the jeans' belt loops.  
"Izumi, Nao… and I guess Agito, a little bit. It was dumb."  
"Mm," the Flame King acknowledged politely. His carmine eyes looked up her body and he watched her facial expression. He could see that she was anxious, "Well, now that nothing's going to interrupt us,…" with one quick motion, he jerked off her jeans and she lay there, in bra and panties alone, "Let's continue what we started. Is this your first time…?"  
Sakanako hesitated and her cheeks were tainted with blush, "…yeah." she replied, honestly. She saw his lips smiling.

"Alright then. I'll keep it simple," he told her, before crawling up her torso and pinning her down.  
"…Does it hurt badly?" her voice shook slightly.  
"I'll be gentle with you."  
"…. Okay."


	11. Distraction

* * *

((: Monday. Elvenride's first day back to a school. :))

"These are our new students. This is Izumi, Naodan and Sakanako. Welcome to class A-4. This is Advanced Chemistry as you should be able to tell. Today, we are performing a lab, just ask one of our many kind students to help you and fill you in."  
Sakanako twitched. Advanced Chemistry? In her Junior Year? In Osaka, she'd be taking Biology I… Tokyo's standards were a year ahead of Osaka's. She swallowed a lump in her throat.  
The students all clustered to the back of the room before familiarly pairing into groups of four. There were 2 nerds heading in the direction of Agito, who was always out during Akito's academic classes; the only class Akito could take confidently had been Language Arts, everything else he was either unable to comprehend, or unable to pay attention.

One of the nerds was a male with braces and curly hair, and the other was a female with braids, freckles and nonexistent lips. Sakanako stared in horror before dashing towards Agito, dragging Izumi and Nao behind out-of-mindedly, "Hey, Sharky. We're in your group." she declared, looking him in the eye. He was the only one they knew here; he _had to help them.  
_The nerds finally reached their table, and they stared at Sakanako and her group with a hint of anger behind their glasses' lenses, "Excuse me, but this is _**our**_ table," the female told them, glaring in Sakanako's direction, "Isn't that right, Wanij'ma?" she added in attempt to shoo them away. The male didn't really care that much for the table anymore, because he was eyeing Naodan with an un-wanted intention, which earned him an elbow in his side from his girlfriend, the other nerd.

Sakanako bit her lip suppressing a smile. The Fang King was… well… a nerd? She looked to him, almost mockingly, and arched a brow expectantly. When she began to think about it a bit, she wondered why they hadn't placed him in Special-Ed.  
"Akito,…" the female nerd began, leering at him defensively. He was their friend, right…?

Then, Sakanako leered at him, too.  
"_**Sharky**_?"  
"_**Wanij'ma**_?"

Agito glared at all of them. Honestly, he didn't _want_ a partner or a group. Fuck 'em all.  
"Go the hell away!" he hissed at all of them.  
"Yeah!" Nao agreed, shooting playful glares at the nerds  
Agito wheeled around to face Nao, "**You, **too!" he snarled, ripping his pencil from the desk and storming to the only other lone table, that was vacant. Naodan teetered after him while Izumi stayed behind, "Here's your table," he told the nerds, patting the cool, black top with the tips of his fingers, before, even he, followed Agito.

Agito leered ahead of himself. He shouldn't have had to help that bitch, **especially** since she didn't respect him. He was the Fang King. **The** Fang King.  
Despite himself, he found his acidic glare focused on Sakanako, again. Rage boiled within him.  


"Don't sit at my table…" he warned, his voice ripping from his throat and lashing at her, then the others, dangerously. The only reason he could even tolerate the nerds was because they didn't talk, or even bother him.

But his threats went unheeded for Nao, who sat on the stool next to his quietly.  
"**Why you**--**!**" he began, but her only reply was the slight nudge of the table as her elbows plopped onto the black table top, her head in her hands, so that her palms cupped her jaw lightly.  
She didn't even look at him…

This pissed him off.  
"**ARE YOU ALL FUCKING HARD OF HEARING?!**" he boomed, clenching his pencil between his fingers. This turned a few heads, but their gazes were far from curious. Everyone was used to his rants, bit it'd been a while since he'd gotten that loud.  
"Dude, shhhh. We're in a classroom." Izumi shushed, fanning his hand downwards as if it were a volume meter on the boy's vocal chords.

Agito gave up with a sigh and dropped the two pieces of pencil onto the table, "Whatever…"  
Sakanako smiled at Agito before innocently plopping into her own chair next to him, "Hey, Sharky, we're going shopping after school, okay? I need your help." her head hovered over his paper and she briefly copied his answers, "What the heck are we doing, anyways?" Then, a few classmates began to whisper among themselves, their eyes focused on the classroom's door.  
They called out, "Wanijima, isn't that your girlfriend?"

Sakanako rolled her eyes and then straightened herself before saying in her peppiest voice,  
"Duh! Ofcourse I am, I mean, duuuuuuuh."  
"Not _**you**_. We meant that girl that walked by in the hallway. The one in the school's uniform that she altered and made all frilly. One of the other new girls…"  
Sakanako felt stupid, but recovered quickly, "Nuuuhhhooooh! I'm heh's girlfriend!"  
"Like hell!" he argued, snatching his paper away from the gazes of Naodan and Izumi, but his intention was to disagree with Sakanako's claim. Izumi and Naodan began copying Sakanako's paper.

Agito paused his fury, and blinked at Sakanako; her proposal threw his attention,  
"Shopping? What the fuck?" he prodded, his voice sounding somewhat calm; it was even peaked with the slightest of curiosity, "What makes you think I want to shop with _**you**_?"  
"I never said you wanted to, I just want you to go with me so you can help me pick something out," Sakanako replied, simply, "Actually, I _know_ you don't want to go with me, but that doesn't really matter, 'cause you're coming whether you like it or not." she smiled sweetly, before the teacher began giving instructions. The fish's gaze remained on the shark, uninterested in the given instructions.

'_Agito, we should go…! C'mon, really, it's not like there's anything __**better**__ to do! I wanna buy clothes.'  
_'_Why the hell would I? She's a bitch.'_ were Agito's replied thoughts; his expression was almost a pout, though it was contorted in anger, but, as peculiar as it was, a flash of reason came over him.

The outcome of this scenario might be the chance to crush another king.

A wild grin spread across his face, and it grew to great proportions, stretching further than you could imagine. Pointed canines revealed themselves, looking like the fangs of an animal—sharpened to an acute degree, '_Akito, that's a wonderful idea! I go, the flaming asshole comes, pissed, and I get to crush him. I'll hang him high, for everyone to see his blood-drenched body, with my road carved into the little shit!_' he thought, ecstatically.

The muscles of his cheeks were struggling to support the fang-bearing smile and the focuses of his irises were somewhere else entirely. Slowly, they met Sakanako's gaze again, the pupils mere slits in the yellow waters, '_And I'll advance… to the strongest king._'  
Sakanako was staring at him, as if he were a crackhead.  
"Uh, no. Agito, stop that. You look really messed up," she ushered him quietly, before pinching the sides of his face and stretching them outwards, "… I didn't know you liked shopping so much. Dude, chill. It's just shopping. Shopping. Don't get so excited." she released his cheeks and then scrubbed his hair, trying to stop the crazed grin that everyone was gossiping about.

'_Agito! Don't do that, no!! I don't want to fight Spitfire! We might lose our regalia, or something! I just want to go shopping and get some new clothes, please, no!_' What had made his alter ego want to face Spitfire? It was absurd.

"Well, Wanijima, you're awfully chummy today, why don't you answer number one for us all," the teacher's voice commanded, harshly, as she slid glasses, that dangled from a necklace, up the bridge of her long, sharp nose.  
Sakanako snickered a bit in response to this, which caused the teacher to respond to her as well.

"And Miss Sakanako, you can answer number two."

Sakanako's smile quickly faded. She stared in irritation at the teacher before she sighed to reveal her disapproval. Her eyes narrowed and slowly looked to see Agito, so she could see him in the corner of her left eye.  
"Due to glucose, Chemical A isn't reactant to Chemical B." he said, still happy with his (maybe) battle.  
The teacher's gaze shifted over to Sakanako expectantly. In response, the female student looked down to her paper and read off what she had copied from Agito earlier, "Because of its glucose base, Chemical B easily settles into Chemical A which causes no reaction. My hypothesis was correct."  
The teacher smiled, satisfied, and clapped her hands, "Bravo, now let's move on to…" after that, Sakanako failed to pay attention to the instructor and smiled ever so slightly at Agito.

It was alright…

She finally had what she needed to distract her from the ackwardness of Spitfire. Ever since that night, she had been a little too shy to contact the Flame King. She needed a friend; well, a new one, anyways, and Agito was the perfect victim, --er, I mean target.

And he was happy? That was a good start.


	12. Friends?

**SEX POT ReVeNGe is not my property. It is copyright to whoever owns the store.**

* * *

((: Later that Day. Shopping Plaza. :))

"Ooh! There's something!" Sakanako grabbed Agito's hand forcefully and dragged him over to a booth that had earlier been set up. Before the male could yank his arm from her grasp, they had already been there, and she had already let go. "So uh,…" she looked around for an assistant and one eventually showed up.  
The assistant smiled before eyeing the two of them, 'It's been a while since I've had fellow Storm Riders. What can I do for you?" The woman was tall and extremely thin. Her jawline was defined, and her short, silvery blonde hair left her red dangling earrings visible.  
Sakanako pointed to two of the necklace charms on display; the necklace charms on display; each made of sterling silver.

A crown and a key.

"Can we see those?"  
"Ofcourse…." the lady pulled out the charms and laid them on the counter for them to look upon. As Sakanako analyzed the charms, the booth woman looked her over, "Are you, by any chance, the new girlfriend of Spitfire, the Flame King?"  
"Yep." Sakanako replied, mindlessly, before holding the charms out to Agito, "Hey, Sharky, which one do you like better?" she questioned, happily, "You think he'll like the crown? Or the key? I'm thinking the crown…"  
The woman behind the counter smiled warmly, "For Spitfire? Did you know that there's an article on you two in A.I.R. magazine?" The lady set the magazine down and Sakanako saw on the cover Spitfire modeling wearing only his overcoat and some mod jeans. It was labeled "A.I.R. The Fire God?"  
Her attention was dragged from Agito, "He's a model, too…?" her eyes twinkled.  
"Oh, no. They asked him to, and he agreed. But he did get paid for it, I hear." the woman then looked to Agito as Sakanako located the article on Spitfire and herself, "It's strange… I would've thought to see **you** on the cover. At least once, anyways, Agito." the lady mentioned, quietly.

Sakanako was reading the article, angrily. "They keep labeling me as a 'female from team Elvenride', they should at least try to figure my name out…" she groaned in annoyance. The article was bias. Then she read the part about Spitfire leaving the Kings.  
"He was serious?! Oh my god!" she was getting into it. She turned the page expectantly to see a poll on herself.

"**Should Spitfire Ditch His New Girlfriend?"**

YES NO

**93 percent 7 percent**

Agito ignored Sakanako's dilemma to talk to the cashier; "I wouldn't do something so sissy. Fuck that." he growled, throwing an elbow atop the counter to recline against. As restless as he was, he spent promptly 2.5 seconds in this pose, before squirming away from the counter to prod the store.

His eyes fell over rows of jackets, especially designed to bypass any wind resistance that a regular jacket might cause. His expression was almost considerate; as if he were really shopping, despite that he had merely come to challenge Spitfire, who, didn't look like he was coming.  
This left Agito very unhappy.  
Pouting and grumbling all the while, his hand snagged a short-sleeved, white "jacket", though the sleeves showed too much bare shoulder to be anything less than a vest, with green "sport" stripes down the sides the collar shot upwards like a bill, climbing much higher than one's ears  
Even the green was too bright for Agito to work, and he knew better--  
The collar practically cupped the head, appearing much like the cone you put on a dog.  
His fashion sense was excellent, and this deserved to be tossed immediately, bit something compelled him to grab it and take it to the counter, despite its hideous appearance and how much he loathed its design. So, he acted impulsively, and yanked it, brutally, from the rack, and even as he stalked back, the bright puke green was much too vibrant, even against the red of his own jacket.

He tossed it onto the glass display area infront of the cashier, and it almost looked as though ,moss were scaling the best, staining what could've been a fashion statement in another century. "Are you still squealing over the asshole with the red hair?" he snarled, swiping the magazine from Sakanako and tossing it onto the jacket which lay upon the glass counter.  
"'Ugh, no." she groaned, before taking the nasty jacket from under the magazine, "Ew. What were you thinking…?" she held it between her index and thumb as if it were filth. Sakanako's nose crinkled as she stared at him, in absolute disgust, "Hun, no." she shook her head in emphasis, "Nnoooo."  
She began to walk back to the area where he picked up the icky jacket. While she walked, she called out, "Well, which charm is the best?"

"I don't care!" he looked to the charms dully. '_The Fang King_.' "The crown." He muttered, picking that which he liked better of the two charms.

'_I need to leave. Why the hell am I still here anyways? Wait. If it's for that asshole, he still might come…_'  
'_Agito! Can you please just forget about facing Spitfire? I really don't want to get in a Parts War…_'

"If he's a king, wouldn't it make just more fucking sense, or are you too big of a dumbass to notice things like that?" he called to her, just to be mean, the way he did with everyone, "Hmph," he added, as though he were insulted that his jacket was taken away.  
"Oh, hush, Jerkface." she replied bluntly, "I just thought the key looked cute, is all." She turned around to face the jewelry counter, "Okay. We've got it. I wanna buy this one."

"7500 yen."  
Sakanako dug around her pockets and pulled out her wallet, "Agito, we're going to SEX POT ReVeNGe next. For you," she told him, as she fished the money out of her wallet and then placed it on the counter 

ahead of her. The female behind the stand took the money and smiled, "Enjoy the rest of your day," she farewelled as she handed the fish the charm in a small jewelry compartment.

Sakanako waved before taking the box and turning and walking. She threw an arm around Agito's shoulder, who growled, as she began to march forth, "To SEX POT!" she declared. She giggled happily, though her teeth, "I know you'll just love it! They have lotsa cool clothes there. Pricey, though."  
Her cellphone went off and she stopped marching, before pulling out the device and skimming a text from Spitfire, "Spitfire just got off work…" she told Agito, who probably did not care.  
"…" she began to text him back; her eyes watching the electronic letters appear on the screen:

"That's great. I cant see you today tho cuz Im sort of busy. C you soon. Luv ya."  
and then put the cell back into her pocket before it almost immediately went off again. Another text. She groaned before re-pulling it out. It read:

"Busy with what? :)"  
She closed the cellphone again, without replying, and then stuffed it in her pocket. No purse. She looked to Agito again, "Okay… so like. Pick out all the clothes you like." they had arrived.  
Agito glared at her, defiantly, "But I don't want to buy any clothes! You're an idiot for spending your money on me!" he bit at her.  
"Idiot?" she looked to him, smiling questioningly, "No, ofcourse not. I'm doing you a favor…" she walked forwards and into the store, fitting right in with everyone around her, "Actually, I'll pick out your clothes; that jacket you picked up in the last store was just…" Sakanako began to look over jackets hanging up on the wall as she thought of a word, "…well, gross."  
She analyzed Agito's legs briefly before estimating his pant size. After she did this she picked up a pair of jeans and looked around for an employee. "Hey, you! Can you help me get that jacket down?"  
"Yeah, sure. Hold on just a minute…"

Sakanako's ringtone blared from her pocket and she took it out, before hitting "ignore" and putting back into the pocket from which it came. The employee looked to Sakanako, "Size?"  
"Small."  
The silver pole ventured up and unhooked a few of the jackets, and then came to the worker's side. He handed her the requested jacket. It was smoky, dark grey and it hugged the body. There was a black barbed wire design collaged with other dark miscellaneous images/designs embroidering the front. The zipper was black, and the jacket itself was reversible. The back of the jacket red "SEX POT ReVeNGe" in a scratched font. One of the sleeves had a red blotch pattern on it, like blood. The reversible side was red with the same design, only in conversed colors.  
Sakanako held it to him and grinned, "See? Something decent. Can you tell the difference between this and that icky jacket you picked up earlier?"  
"He could probably wear leather. It's all on sale for the next 2 weeks," one of the employees commented, as he passed her on the way back to the cash register.

"Yeah, actually, Sharky, I bet you could."

* * *

Spitfire stepped out of his automobile and he began walking towards the outdoor mall (the same one as Sakanako and Agito. Coincidence, ofcourse. XD).  
"Odd… her phone's off…"  
"**Please…wait uh, yeah. Leave a message.**"  
**BEEP.  
**"Sakanako? Well, um, I just called to check up on you. You're probably very busy, since your phone's off… If you 'appen to finish or whatever, feel free to stop by for a drink or rather. Very well. See you la'er then. With Love." Click.  
He began to walk into the store that Agito and Sakanako had previously gone into and he tugged on the edge of his slimfit shirt, straightening some wrinkles.

"Spitfire?"

He turned his head. It was the woman running the jewelry booth, "Interesting, your girlfriend just stopped by and bought something from me." she explained.  
"Oh, really?"  
"She was with Agito."  
"Ah," Agito? Why him? Was she… cheating on him? With another king? No, that was impossible. What was he thinking? There was no way that was happening,  
"She said something about going to SEX POT ReVeNGe."  
"That sounds about right,"  
The woman became quiet, "Are you really going to try and advance? If you do… you know I won't hesitate to tear you down." She forked the A.I.R. magazine towards him, her face in a bitter frown.

"…No need to make threats, Suhime."  
"If I have to, I will."

* * *

Agito almost grinned at the thought of Sakanako actually having fashion sense; "Leather? I've never worn leather in my life." he said, a grin still pulling at his lips; Any other time, his claim wouldn't have been believable, but, he had only been in existence for about roughly 6 years now, being an alter ego and all. The closest he'd come to leather was the Kogarasumaru uniform jacket, and that was made from grey vinyl.  
He took the jacket and looked it over, thoughtfully, "Not bad," he remarked.  
'_Hey, Agito, can we go somewhere else…? I don't really like the clothes here. Can we go somewhere not so hard core looking? I mean, it's just not really my style… I can put up with some of it, but…_' Akito suggested, innocently, as he began to feel slightly uncomfortable.

"Yeah, I thought you'd like it. It's nice to hear you not complaining for a change." her voice was sincere, her lips still holding a smile. She scanned the racks and pulled out some black leather pants. "Hm. Why not. Go ahead and give it a try…" she handed him the articles, before looking over the belts. 

"Oh, here's something cool." She took off one of them, a black leather belt with miniature silver hand-cuffs on the surface, "Take this, and go try em all on."

That's when Spitfire arrived.

"…" he didn't say anything, because he was pretending that it was all a simple incident. He didn't want to reveal that a sales clerk had ratted her out.  
Sakanako bit her lip when she realized what the scenario could turn into, and she quickly pushed Agito behind a very tall shoe tower, surpassing his height by far, "Oh! Hauh.. I mean, hey, Baby, what're you doing here?" she asked the Flame King, sweetly. Her eyes were gesturing Agito to pretend he wasn't with her. God, this could end up tragic.  
Spitfire turned his faze to her and he smiled as well, "Oh, 'ello there, Sweet." he approached her and tilted his head to the side, puppyishly, "Shopaholic? Looks like?"  
Sakanako internally sighed of relief, "Oh, thank god…." she whispered to herself. She noticed he noticed when his eyebrows lifted, "I thought you'd be mad…." she explained, as if out of breath.

"Oh….ofcourse not, Babe. I mean women love to shop and they always will, right?"  
"Yeah. You're right. I love to shop, haha…"  
"N'yways, now that we're together, why don't we finish shopping together?"

'_Shit._' She looked to the top of Agito's head and thought of something, "I came here with a friend, and he blew all his money so, I'm paying for him. He's paying me back later." she nodded her head in the direction of Agito, "Can we wait? I mean, he's almost done…"  
"Sure thing." Although Spitfire couldn't help but be suspicious, he couldn't bring himself to possessively yank her out of the shop. He thought of ways to warn Agito.  
Slowly, he stood behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. He began to sway lightly from leg to leg, and she was forced to, as well. He planted a small kiss on her cheek as they began to wander over to a ladies wall and he whispered something inaudible in her ear, as Agito was on the brim of imploding.

He was going to yell about being shoved around, but as things quieted, he realized that they were no longer there with him. So, she planned on taking him here to ditch him behind a tower of shoes, in a corner, and run off with her boyfriend? Not over his dead body—he wouldn't end up the loser. He'd shop on his own. He didn't need her fucking help. But this was a rare occasion, and he didn't bring his wallet with him, thus it made him require hers.  
Cautiously, he stepped out from his private little corner, and peered up at the two, cuddling blatantly. Without warning, his ire ignited like a combusting flame, and licked at any reason he might've used, had he been calmer. His yellow optics fell over their stance once more: Spitfire's lips against her skin… in the middle of the store?! Who did this remind him of…? Akira, and his cow, Ren  
With a "plpt" being the immediate reply of the clothes' impact with the floor, he charged towards them, while the tips of his fingers curled forward, irritantly, beneath his sleeves.

"If you wanna make a scene, then it should be with me; I'm gonna kick your ass and rip those Regalia right off your god damned feet!" he declared, stepping infront of them to seize their attention. Though this announcement could apply to both Sakanako and Spitfire, his leer was aimed at Spitfire, alone.  


"….?!" He gasped, looking, suddenly, at Spitfire's feet. "You don't even have your regalia?! What the fuck?!" he groaned, throwing his forearms out infront of him in fury, "Whatever! Fuck you both! I'm leaving; I didn't even want to fucking be here in the first place, Bitch. I didn't know you were gonna drag me here, then ditch me!" he snapped at Sakanako, before he whirled off and stormed out of the store, angrily.

A loud silence befell the store and all eyes were on Spitfire and Sakanako. There were hushed whispers amongst themselves (the fellow customers) before, eventually, they minded their own businesses.  
Spitfire smiled a little bit, and freed himself from their romantic pose, "Well, that was interesting…"he laughed a bit, but stopped when he saw Sakanako picking up the articles that Agito had dropped before. A pang of guilt slapped him in the face and he kneeled down beside her, to help her pick them up. She sped up, leaving the Flame King nothing to gather.  
"Are you mad at me…?" he asked, smally. He didn't understand any of it. He was just trying to…  
"No." Sakanako answered, not looking at him as she raised and headed to the check out desk.

This was because of Agito….but—why was she so angry with him? Was it because he was bad in bed or something? Because he was a nuisance? He had tried his best to keep her happy…

"15700 yen."  
As Sakanako dug through her wallet, he felt as if he had stricken some sort of penalty, "…"  
"Have a great day."  
Then, Sakanako walked out of the store without inviting Spitfire.

He couldn't bring himself to ask her over to his house, so he watched her.

He watched her walk out with a large SEX POT ReVeNGe bag in hand.

**Thank goodness. That chapter was so effing long. I wanna stab something. Xx; Please review, people! They make me happy! :3**


	13. An Apology and A Misunderstanding

* * *

((: That Evening :))

"Well, you know she's been like that for a while, flirting with Agito, that is. Once you think about it, you really don't know that much about her, including how devoted she is to a relationship," Simca stated, as she browsed through a bucket of clearance D-sized bras.  
Spitfire's gaze was downcast, "…I guess you could say that's why I'm attracted to her. I want to get to know her, but I feel like she's not being herself around me…"  
Simca snorted humorously before she held up a silky ,lacey red bra, "Well, as cute as that is, Spitfire, I don't think she's _**that **_into you. I mean, why else would she be shopping with him? When you first get a boyfriend, especially one of your high status, you should be fawning for at least a couple of weeks. What has it been, a day? And she should really be all over you after sex."  
He considered this, "You think maybe sex had the opposite effect?"  
"Well, _yeah_. If she's already looking at her other options, I'd think so."  
"Hm."

* * *

Sakanako taped a note onto the folded stack of clothing she had bought for Agito and then headed to his room. She bit her lip lightly, and exerted a soft sigh through her nostrils as she walked down the ironically silent hallway. She was remembering what he had yelled at her earlier.  
'_**I didn't even want to fucking be here in the first place, Bitch!**_'  
She knocked on the door, solemnly and waited, "Agito. Please open up."  
From the other side of the door, there was Akito, who was curious as to what Sakanako wanted.  
'_You wanna answer the door?_' He knew that even though Agito was not going to admit it, that he felt somewhat betrayed by the girl's earlier actions. The way he had felt with Akira…  
'_She didn't ditch you purposely, you know._'

Agito snarled quietly, resistant to any reason, for he was much too stubborn to heed the command, "Why the hell should I? Leave me alone like I've asked since I first met you." he barked, turning his back to the door, while he sat promptly in the "Indian" position; cross-legged, '_I don't care. Fuck her._'

'…' Akito sighed before shutting up for a second, and then feeling somewhat sympathetic for Sakanako. She had his pity, '_It wasn't her fault…_'  
His left hand raised and he gently switched the eyepatch over. He opened the door to see that the female had already left. He sighed again in accusation towards Agito, and then lifted the stack of folded items and read the note which lay atop them. "SORRY."  
A rush if emotions filled his body and he felt his chest drop dramatically, the way one's did when aboard a rollercoaster, or an airplane. He didn't know what to do, or why it did this to him, but the apology sharply stung his heart. It reminded him of the first time he had met Ikki; when the crow had freed him from the well. Suddenly, there was the desire to help her, and a connection—not holding a candle to his love for Ikki, yet compelling him enough to want to be by her side as a little more than a 

friend, "Wait! Tsuru-ri—, " he stopped himself and cleared his throat. He was going to attempt to mimic his alter ego's voice.

Since they shared the same vocal chords, he could make himself sound roughly like Agito, "Bitch, get back here, I need to tell you something!"  
"If it's nagging, I'm not really in the mood…" her voice was quiet.  
"It's not."

The 17 year old made herself visible to Akito, who cleared his throat once again, "Why do you even mess with me? I'm not, no wait—" the "no wait" was in his own voice and he quickly realized it and shifted his voice back to Agito's, "It really turns me on. Oop! Wrong word, I mean off… **YEAH**. It pisses me off!"  
She was staring at him, oddly.  
"Fuck?" he squeaked, intimidated, "Uhh…" he continued, as she crossed her arms, expectantly.  
'_Oh, poop! Eep. She's starting to scare me…_'  
"What the fuck are you looking at?!" he was trying his best to stay in character.  
She grinned, "It turns you on, you mean off wait—no, pisses you off? Who are you?"  
"That's not the question, you see here, you uh, shitty wench! Why the hell are you bothering me?!"  
"I'm not. You called me over."  
"Yeah, so answer the damned question!"

Then she became really serious and averted her gaze, "…To be honest… I brought you with me today because I couldn't bring myself to see Spitfire again…after last night. I don't know…I guess I'm just kind of scared. I felt a little pushed, is all—He's so. I don't know. I like him a whole lot, but I'm really scared to face him so early after what we did. I figured making a new friend would distract me from being paranoid, that's all…"  
Akito slowly took it all in, "Friends…?" he repeated, his voice lightening.

'_Agito…she's got a lot on her mind…you can't still be so mad at her, can you?_' He felt the desire to help her out strengthen, and he took a step closer to you.  
'_Akito, what the hell are you doing?_'  
'_…_'

"Yeah… you don't even know how happy I was when you told me about how you've never worn leather before, or when you told me that the jacket I picked out wasn't bad. I felt… relieved, almost."  
Akito had found himself closer and closer to the girl as she continued her story, explaining her situation, her feelings… it all made him want to comfort her. He pitied her. And before he had even realized it, his lips brushed the fish's only slightly before he was shoved away.

It wasn't love. The feeling held in his chest… it was the same as he had held for Ikki in the beginning. Like a small attachment, but not enough of a feeling to call a crush.

"Just forget it!" the female snarled at him, shakily, before she heeled around and began to speed off.

* * *

"…I'm sorry…" he whispered, as he touched his lips. He wondered how lips of his own could do something so against his will.

'…' Now, he only waited to hear Agito's huffing and puffing.

Spitfire sat quietly in his automobile as he texted:

"I'm very sorry. Please come back."  
He exhaled before turning the key and driving out of the mall's parking lot. His phone began to sing "Yellow-Coldplay", and he accustomedly picked it up, "'Ello?" he hit a read light.  
"Sakanako…? What's wrong?" … "Pick you up where? Are you alright?" … "Nothing sounds like it's something." … "It's okay. Yes, it's fine… I love you too." … "Okay, I'll be there." …

The light turned green.

… "I'll be there soon." … "Yes, I promise." … "I love you, too." … "Goodbye."

Agito was infuriated into silence—nothing he could call Akito could express his fury to that great of an extent. Even so, Agito could always find ways to yell at others, no matter how angry he was.

'_**Akito, if I could, I'd fucking murder you!! How could you..?! AS ME?! You just fucked everything up you inconsiderate asshole, and, I guaran-fuckin'-tee that it won't be much longer before you get what's coming to you! I'll make sure of it, you dick!!**_' he roared, his voice ripping through Akito's thought stream like lightning across a dry plain, turning every beautiful thought bitter, and contorting each mental image that Akito could surmise.  
The right limb of his body wrenched the eyepatch forwards, the tips curling forth so quickly around the white texture that he almost clawed the skin beneath his brow, as he shoved it to the left, concealing his left eye. Almost too quickly for Akito to object, he ripped the white fiber off, and it drifted onto the waxed, wooden floor.  
A stomp echoed through the house, as Agito slammed the heel of his foot onto the said eyepatch,  
"I fucking hate you!! Die!" he screeched, his hands simultaneously gripping the temples of his head. He repeated the act of crushing the eyepatch beneath his heel many times, sending vibrations across the nearly paneled floor, "You son of a bitch!" he growled.

'_**Why…? Why the hell do I even care that you fucked things up?!**_**'**

* * *

When Ikki caught a glimpse of Sakanako's dramatic exit, he automatically stood up and headed to Agito's room. His socks thunked loudly as he padded over and wringed the doorknob. The door opened, spilling out the image of Agito attacking his eyepatch.  
"What the hell is **WRONG **with you?!" Ikki snapped at the Wanijima, before storming forth and 

hovering over him, "Are you really that screwed? Did you try to carve your road into her or something?!" he was utterly confused, "What the hell is wrong with you?!"

Occurring much too quickly for, even Ikki, to realize that he was in danger; Agito turned his glare to the crow. His eyes were wide, both of the pupils slits, and narrowed even more so than usual; his fangs were bared.  
The knuckles of his fist impacted much too quickly with Ikki's chin, but instead of letting this throw the crow's jaw upward, Agito caught the Sky King's temples between his palms. While he attempted crushing Ikki's head between his palms, he muttered quietly, but fiercely, "What is wrong with me…? Heh… ,_** everything **_is wrong with me!! Now, get the FUCK OUT OF MY ROOM AND **LEAVE ME THE HELL ALONE!**"  
'_Agito! Stop it!'_

With the last sentence, his voice grew to an exaggerant volume, and he shoved Ikki back through the door. Then, he slammed it to in the crow's face, locked it, and ripped the light switch of the bedroom downwards, silencing his surroundings to complete and utter darkness. Thus, he angrily threw himself upon the mattress and glared, furiously, up at the innocent ceiling, which served as witness to all the events that had previously occurred.


	14. Stubborn

((: The following day :))

Sakanako sat down beside Izumi and then looked away from the circle as she ate the pork dumplings from her bento box. Her lips didn't dare to part, she didn't dare to associate with anyone, nor did she plan to. She chewed, silently, listening to the group's innocent conversation.  
"Yeah, so I hear that there's going to be a fight between Kisuko of PEACE.NOW and Cadensu, they're fighting for a rank… well, a higher one," explained Buccha, as he munched down on a jelly bun, "Well how 'bout it? You guys wanna go 'n see?"  
"Sure." Izumi replied, "We're going to fight them one day, so we might as well see what they're all about, right?" he proposed, looking to Sakanako expectantly, as another attempt to get her to speak. He stabbed at a dumpling, and popped it into his mouth as he waited idly for Sakanako.  
Agito was sitting, estranged from the group, watching with his arms folded over his chest; once again, he wore no eyepatch. He wasn't going to allow Akito to come out for a while. Not after what had happened.

Sakanako was watching a small speck of a person walk down the side walk, and ignoring the group completely. It was a child. "…" remaining silent, she drew the conclusion that it was an elementary student, skipping school.  
Ikki nodded in response to Buccha's offer, "Yeah, okay."  
Naodan spoke, "Kisuko, huh? She's like…3. That's what I heard."  
"A 3-year old can't use AT's, Nao." Izumi corrected, still eating, but this time, munching down on Naodan's bento.  
"She's 10, but she's a living legend. Especially at her age. Lots of people who are twice her age can't ride as well as she can…" Buccha assured them.

Then, the speck Sakanako had been watching took off into the sky. Flying, yes, flying.  
The first words of Sakanako's day slipped from her lips, "What the…?"  
Izumi and Naodan simultaneously opened their eyes a fraction wider in horror.  
"She's…?" Naodan began, but was interrupted.  
"It's a bird, no a plan, NO! A flying AT user!" Izumi fake gasped in terror, quoting the old Super Man movie, "I mean, duh. Guys, it's not that big of a deal." he muttered.

"You only say that because you have flying regalia." Sakanako.  
"Whatever. You're just jealous." The country boy mumbled, ending the conversation between them.  
"…" she looked to Agito, and then quickly away from him. She released a quick breath, "I'm leaving."

Agito caught the glance, and decided it was time to act, "Freshmeat, I have something to tell you, so don't you think about leaving until I say it." he stated, his voice more violent than he would've liked.  
This resulted in everyone staring in his direction, expectantly and waiting.  
It included Sakanako, who had already stood up, "…Yeah? What?" she straightened the edge of her skirt; holding down the edge so when she bent down to pick up her bento box, no one would catch a flash of panties.  


He glared at everyone around him, and then back to Sakanako, "If you haven't realized, I'm not one person. I'm two. So don't get cocky and think that I did that to you; it was Akito, the fag-side of me." He told her, in a matter-of-fact tone.  
Her eyes didn't look believing as she flung her bag carelessly over her shoulder, "You _**could **_just say sorry you know." she mumbled lowly, before beginning to walk off, her hair slapping against her face, wildly. Angry, she swept the strands out of her eyes, and both of her green irises narrowed against the bladed wind.

"If you're not gonna fucking believe me, then….why the hell would I have to apologize?! I didn't do anything wrong! I'd never want to do shit like that to you! Stop trying to flatter yourself!" he snarled.  
Everybody witnessing was very confused.  
Do… what things? To her? What had Akito done? Wasn't he gay?

Sakanako shot him a bitter glare. What was she supposed to say? There wasn't anything she _could_ possibly say to him. Nothing she wanted to say…

"Whatever. Fuck you." her voice, quiet, was being lost in the violent wind.  
"Chh. No _**thanks**_." he responded, immaturely.

Izumi blinked, "Uh. Stop the violence, you two. Sakanako, it's really pathetic to beaten up by shrimpy little boys," he said, trying to be comic relief.  
Everyone ignored him.  
Then, the fish left without further due. She was cussing under her throat.

Ikki's face dulled, "Well, that was 100 useless and retarded. God, Agito, just say sorry like any other person." he looked over to Izumi, "Right? I mean… just say sorry and get her to shut up. Who cares if you really mean it or not?"  
Izumi nodded, "Well, I mean, you _**should**_ mean it, but this works, too. She'll just get so pissed, she'll shut up anyways." he commented, half-heartedly, staring after Sakanako.  
Ringo, who, before, was standing quietly by, leered at Ikki in particular, for she didn't really care for Izumi's retort, "That's disgusting. How can you say something like that?" she bickered.  
Naodan could only sigh and shake her head, "Men."

"Cuz it's the truth!" Ikki spat at Ringo, "God. All of you guys are just stupid."


	15. Worth the Time

((: After School :))

"Okay, so uh…-- Nao told me about your alter ego and stuff and I'm really sorry for throwing a fir about it… I'm serious! Really! What would you think if you were me?" Sakanako pleaded Agito. She had been told during cleaning period, and it was now after school, "Well, anyways, if you hang out with me, I'll see if I can get the Flame King to fight you. C'mon, please?"  
"You're such a fake! Why the hell are you still talking to me?!" he demanded, trying to brush her away with a swipe of his hand.  
She grabbed his hand and grinned, "What do you mean by that? We can still be friends since it was Akito yesterday and not you. I'm talking to you because we're friends now, okay?"  
" Okay?" he quoted her, mockingly," Since when was it okay? I told you I was two different people, you didn't believe me. That doesn't sound very friendly to me-- especially since you got in MY face about this bullshit. I didn't do anything wrong." The hand she held was wrenched away and found refuge in the pocket of his uniform's pants. He stifled a grin that would smear "I told you so" right in her face, but decided on looking very annoyed; instead, which did dominated a good bit of his emotion, while the weight of his body shifted.

"Alright. You said you could get the Flame King to fight me; I guess I can ' hang out with you', but if I don't get a fight in return, we go back to not-talking. Understand?" the words escaped like a warning.  
Sakanako rolled her eyes, "Sure, okay. So I'm thinking… hm," she gazed up to the sky and wondered for a while, "I kind of want to go to a Pachinko parlor, but we're underage. How old are you? 15?"  
"17, _**actually**_." The Fang King corrected.  
"You're so little, though…" she scratched the top of her hair and then crossed her arms afterwards, "well, we could go see a movie, to a club… we could go skating. Yeah, we'll go skating." she decided, although, originally, they were going to vote on it.

She took a seat smack dab in the middle of the sidewalk, and put on her AT's, smiling casually as people passed her and Agito, complaining, "At Sex Pot… sorry about Spitfire. I really didn't plan for him to show up and….y'know how it went." she buckled her skates and then hopped up before rolling ahead of him. She turned to face him, "I'm not really worried about the regalia right now; how bout we just try to have fun? Without any Flame Kings coming in." Then, she laughed at her own joke for a brief moment. Her laugh was vibrant, and it was easily carried along the spring air.  
Agito scoffed at her, then sat down, likewise, to put on his own AT's, "Are you still whining about that? I don't give a fuck, anymore." he added, sharply. Then he regained his stance;  
"Alright,-- _**fun**_." he hissed, twisting in the reverse direction on the wheel beneath the border of his heel before reeling ahead of her, quickly. "Do you still such so much, that you can't keep up??" he called to her, teasing. Could she use her regalia? Wouldn't it just be _smarter _to practice?

"I never sucked!" she retorted, before gliding beside him. Then she twirled around and began to skate backwards, "Okay…so, Hm. How's your life? What's it like being an alter ego? Is it like having an annoying sibling?" she powered a jump, and flipped in dissension over a small staircase.  


"I never had to deal with any of that." Then, she whirled around and skated regularly. "I guess…that means you don't really have a story to tell. No past… Sorry I asked. Guess I'm rude…." She was looking around her surroundings for something to grind on. "Well, surely you have some great motive for being alive. You act so badass."  
She found a long rail and perched onto it before riding it down wards, "Me? I don't really know why I'm here. I just am." Before the girl could continue to talk needlessly about random things, she went flying off the rail and landing ungracefully on her backside.

A small elementary girl was victimized and squeaked helplessly beneath the highschooler's weight, "Ouch!"  
Sakanako cackled wildly with laughter, so loud that she rolled over on her knees and hunched over.  
The victimized girl with dirty blonde hair held in a side ponytail rolled her eyes, which were a light, powdery pink color. "Scuse you," she said for Sakanako, who was still cracking up over the incident.

She was laughing because she must've looked like an idiot, talking about the morals of life and then completely crushing her noble appearance by toppling an innocent grade-schooler.  
The child looked to Agito and almost immediately recognized him, "What's the Fang King doing flirting with girls?" her head tilted to the side as Sakanako shut up and finally began to stand.  
Agito was standing atop the staircase, leering down at the stranger who decided to interrupt, this time, "What's it to you, and tell me why it's any of your fucking business?" he growled, though he'd been stopped since he saw Sakanako fall on her butt. He jumped down from his position, and uninterestedly grinded the rail, until he was at Sakanako's side.  
"And it's much worse than an annoying ass sibling."

The kid arched a brow at him, a little surprised, "It's not common for a king to talk that way to his superiors." Then, she glanced to Sakanako with a slight look of disgust, "You must be the Tidal girl. I can tell you're from Osaka just by looking at you…"

Sakanako didn't know whether to be excited or not. This brat… was stronger than the 8 kings?  
"Yeah? What's that supposed to mean, little girl?"  
"It means you're stupid!" the child spat, immaturely.  
"What makes you think Osaka's stupid?!"  
"Just everything about it says stupid."

The little girl skated away a bit and Sakanako clenched her fists, "Who the hell do you think you are, anyways?" she questioned the elementary child.  
The girl's face brightened into a charming smile and she replied, enthusiastically, "I'm Kisuko. The Bumblebee of PEACE.NOW, stronger than any of you guys will ever be! And I'm only 10 years old!" she bragged, naively, like any other little girl.

"Kay, well. Bye." Sakanako dismissed abruptly, before pulling on Agito's arm.  
The child, Kisuko, skated off, and headed to the direction of down town.

Sakanako stopped tugging on his arm before folding her arms and slowly wheeling ahead again.  
"So, back to where we left off…" her hands went to her pockets and she rolled forth again, "You know, I'm not sure why I feel like I can trust you. You're a bitch. You're rude. And… you're pretty lucky, you know?" her gaze went to the sky again.  
"I'm outgoing towards my friends, but I usually can't bring myself to make new friends. Like that lolita and Hasuei…those aren't my friends, their Izumi's." she skated onwards.  
"And out of all the people to want to be friends with, I pick the one who's half psycho, half gay, a nerd, and who has no friends nor interests for any…" she chuckled, "No offense, or anything."

Agito strolled casually ahead, following Sakanako's lead; for once, he wasn't angry, and didn't wear a psychotic grin of any sort. Instead, his stare was solemn, considerate, and just barely capable of being calm. As he brought his left forth, to complete another stride, he opened his mouth to speak,  
"I don't want friends. If I make them, it just makes it harder; disappearing. It'll make it harder on everybody, so I try not to make a damn one—" there was a string of silence, "It's better if you leave me alone, little fish." Finishing this sentence, he put on his brake, and slowed to a halt.  
She stopped as well, and then turned to face him, confused, "Disappear?"

"I'm a mental state—I exist only to protect Akito. When he falls in love, he'll have to protect, or be protected… and he won't need me anymore. So I get fucked over in the end." he replied.  
There was another silence. "Sorry I asked about it. It's probably a sensitive topic…" she turned her gaze, and locked eyes with him, "I'm still going to be your friend though. I mean, it'd suck if you had to live in isolation while you're here, right? That's how it is with everyone. If I end up hurt, it'll just be worth it at the end, right? It'd be my fault anyways, so I could just blame myself. It's not like you forced me to befriend you. I brought on the pain myself, you know?"

"…If you think so." He mumbled, suddenly at a loss for words.


	16. Friction

I do not own the Teletubbies or any other movie titles mentioned in this chapter.

((: The Same Evening :))

"C'mon Sharky, it's movie time." Sakanako chirped at him, before sitting down comfortably on the only loveseat in the living room.  
Mikan arched a brow and stepped in as she overheard, "Movie? And what movie are you gonna watch?"  
"That's a good question. I was actually in the mood for action or horror…. but if Sharky doesn't want to watch one of those genres, we'll just have to watch….uh, I don't know. The Teletubbies or something."

Mikan laughed a bit before making herself comfortable on the recliner. She smiled, before she wrapped her hands behind her neck and then called out, "Ikki, Ringo, Nao and Dogboy! Get your asses into the living room and make some popcorn, while you're at it!" There was a pause. She knew no one would make that popcorn. With a groan, she got up to make herself a bowl of ramen, and everyone else popcorn, muttering under her breath.

Sakanako looked to Agito and then grinned, "Well, how do you like it now that you've got a friend? I'm the favorite, riiiiiiiight?" she questioned, her eyes twinkling with her smug smile. She took pride in just about everything.  
Ikki came in and looked around, curiously, "Hm. That's funny. Oh well." he took notice to Sakanako and Agito and twitched when he read their locations. He scanned them up and down suspiciously, "Don't even _**think**_ about it," he warned them, his tiny bird brain drawing conclusions.

"Ikki! Shut the hell up!" Mikan's voice commanded from the kitchen.

Ikki mumbled something before sitting cross-legged on the couch and pulling out the cheapest cell phone imaginable. He began to dial numbers and then brought it to his ear," Yo, Simca! Heeey!"

When Sakanako heard Simca's name, she began to wonder about Spitfire.  
'_I'll go over tomorrow. Yeah, that's it. He was busy today, so he's probably really tired. Poor thing._'  
Then she returned back to reality. Beside Agito.  
He, very casually, reclined against the loveseat, his eyes not watching the black TV screen, but rather, Sakanako, "I want to watch something gory. Saw…. Or the Hills Have Eyes." he replied, ignoring her question of friendship.  
Yet, after a moment of skirting the question, he noticed how he'd unintentionally inclined his entire frame towards hers, "Y-yeah…whatever. Friends." he growled, the statement being very sharp, and somewhat demanded; it was, to an extent, reassurance for himself.  
Very rigidly, he shifted his position, and now sat as far away from her as the couch would allow.

It was about this time when Ringo walked in.  
Unaware that Ikki was on the phone with Simca, she sat in the place next to him, and peered away, as if this gesture was something she hadn't already planned. As a matter of fact, she'd been planning up to 

about 4 minutes into the movie, already.  
"W-what are we watching?" she asked, looking to Ikki.

But, simultaneous to her question, Izumi walked in, Nao on his arm and staring pleading at him, for, just a moment ago she had been asking him for something He didn't look as if he'd given her request a second thought.  
They sat on the floor beside the recliner, and Nao's attention was drawn from Izumi, who looked as if he appreciated that. Her eyes, a dull pink in the mellow light of the room, focused only on Sakanako and Agito.

"The Hills Have Eyes," Sakanako answered Ringo, before getting up to pick it out. After scanning through the DVD's, she pulled the requested film and put it in the player, before grabbing the remote and sitting back down next to Agito.

Mikan came in with a load of popcorn bowls and she distributed them to pairs.  
One for Agito and his fish, one for Ringo and her crow, one for Naodan and her bitch, and one all for herself.  
She plopped down on her recliner, and eyed the TV, "Somehow, I knew we'd end up watching this," she implied, dully.

Ikki hung up with a quick "bye" and he grinned to Ringo, "I looove dees mooolvie." he told her, in a Dracula accent and everything. She cocked one brow upwards at Ikki, and smiled a practiced grin at him. To be perfectly honest with herself, Ikki's attempts to be funny annoyed the heck out of her, but Simca always managed to laugh at him, and he did adore the swallow.  
Suddenly, an out of place glare furrowed along her brow as the thought of Simca dared to merge itself into her head,

'_And he __**did **__adore her…Ugh! Why the hell would he even like Simca? They just don't…' _New thought, '_She's not even really interested in him, I'd bet!_'

She noticed that the movie didn't start yet, and she found it an opportune time to ask Ikki what was on her mind. "Who were you on the phone with?" her voice was soft, and she was really curious as to if he'd notice she was wearing contacts, rather than glasses.  
"It was Simca." he reminded Ringo of her rival, and to her favor, also noticed she had no glasses, "Can you…see?" he asked her, before wriggling his fingers before her face and wondering if she could tell what they were doing

Sakanako realized that Agito had shifted after she hit the "play" button, but didn't say anything about it. It didn't bother her, but it didn't really make her happy either.

Akito, on the other hand, was brave enough to confront Agito, '_Well, if this is making you awkward, then maybe I should come out. I still have to apologize to her, after all.'_ He could see Sakanako's eyes wandering to Agito, '_You're going to bore her if I leave things up to you!'_

'_Shut up. You scare the shit out of her since your last move, remember? You'd be crying like the baby you are once the movie started, anyways._' Agito retorted, mentally. Because of the mental disruption, his expression was harder now, and each feature was hinting, even if only slightly, at irritation.  
Nevertheless, his focus became Sakanako, again. Maybe scooting away wasn't the best idea, for now, he was restless and isolated against the corner of the couch, where the arm met the back of the chair. Because of this discomfort, he released a short, impatient sort of sigh.

Agito's wiggling was becoming annoying, and Sakanako scooted next to him before leaning her shoulders towards him. Her lips hovered towards his ear and she whispered obnoxiously,"Pssst! Stop talking to yourself, you're making those weird faces again! He's weird, don't talk to him!"  
Akito felt his heart drop and his voice crept back into Agito's mind, '_Agito…_'

Mikan arched a brow at the two of them, wondering what they were attempting to pull.  
Sakanako grinned cattily at Agito. This was her way of telling him to pay attention to her.  
Then, she went ahead and adjusted his position in seating and hugged his torso. Her head rested upon the front of his shoulder, and then she looked back to the TV, casually.

This wasn't flirting to her.  
To her, this meant they were _**officially**_ friends.  
If she were trying to flirt, she'd be googling up Agito the way she did with Spitfire in her spare time.  
Or behaving oddly shy.  
She could never be this open with someone she had a crush-like attraction to, Agito no exception.

'_Agito, I think we should really just leave the room…_'

Agito ignored Akito, again. For a brief few seconds, he was stiff and uncomfortable.  
"Wh--what are you …--?" he stuttered, his hands grabbing her arms in pre-instinctive attempt to push her off; but he stopped himself.  
He fluidly relaxed his arms, and a hand fell to her knee. This was a somewhat innocent gesture, that only possessed mildly flirty intention. A quiet scoff emerged from his throat before he grew comfortable, and sank against the arm of the couch, without further argument.

Though he hated to admit it, he didn't mind the position.

Ringo glared at Ikki, "Yes!" she snapped, secretly disappointed that it wasn't a compliment he'd given her, but a stupid question. She straightened her position to a more refined, less flirty option.  
She sighed quietly.  
He noticed her behavior; like she had a bad itch or something, "Ringo? Are you okay?" he questioned, Ikki-ishly, before looking her directly in the eye. "I mean, you've been acting sorta weird lately."

Sakanako, on the other hand, paid no serious attention to Agito until the doorbell rang. She didn't plan on answering it. She cleared her throat, and began eyeing Izumi suggestively.  
Izumi glanced to Sakanako, "No, I won't have sex with you." he retorted, smiling to himself and his not funny joke. He then passed a glance to Naodan, who wasn't paying the least attention to the movie.  


She got up, and then waddled to the door.  
Izumi nodded, "See that? Easy." he said, smugly.  
In reality, she didn't have _him_ owned. No one had him owned.

Ringo blinked, anger subsiding. She was almost touched, even. He noticed? He almost **never** noticed anything. That's just the way he was, and always had been. "I….don't know what you mean…" she mumbled, looking away from his gaze.

"Can you two, I don't know, shut the fuck up?" Agito suddenly growled, interrupting them.  
Sakanako gently whapped Agito on the back of the head before snickering at his complaint, "You're mean, Sharky. Leave 'um alone." she bugged him, cozily, before her hand slowly wrapped around his tummy again. She breathed smoothly, enjoying the boy's scent.

Ikki ignored Agito, only paying attention to Ringo, "Well, okay then. I'm not gonna pry, but if something's bothering you, then you should probably tell somebody, Ringo."

As the door opened, the visitor revealed to be Simca with Spitfire behind her, "Well hi! I was invited over to join in the fun; and I brought the Flame King, too." the woman announced before winking the way she usually did.

Mikan grumbled a bit.

"Ello." Spitfire greeted casually. He could see Agito and Sakanako together and he sank his fingernails into his palms. He smiled purely, a false kind of genuinement, and directed his next statement towards Agito, "I brought my regalia with me," and then he walked towards the couch that the shark and Sakanako were perched on and stood behind it.  
"'Ey, Sweet, what're you watching?" he questioned her, in desperate attempt to separate the two.

"The Hills Have Eyes," she answered, before looking up at him, smiling, innocently.

His hands went to her shoulders and he massaged them professionally as he bent over to deliver a kiss. Thinking it was just a greeting peck; Sakanako let him go with it but was surprised when his tongue licked the petal of her lips.  
After a few seconds for Agito to stare with a "OO?!" face, Spitfire released the kiss, hands still rubbing her shoulders. He was glaring at Agito from the corner of his eye, until Sakanako's hand reached up and lightly patted his cheek as if it were some sort of mini-slap, "Not in public," she alerted him. His hands fell to his sides, in failure, "'Pologies," he sorried, although he still leered in Agito's direction, '_If you don't watch yourself…_'

Simca waltzed in and plopped onto the ground beside Izumi, "Well hey; I didn't know the Rocketdog was crashing here, too."  
Ikki was becoming a little jealous, "Simca, you know, there's some room up here for you," he notified her. She glanced to him and her silver eyes closed gleefully, "I'm fine down here, thanks."

Then she passed a dirty look to Ringo before watching the TV, "Okay so… what's happened so far?" she directed it to Izumi, which pissed Ikki off further.

"…!" Mikan shot warning glares at both of the newcomers, "If you two don't shut up, I'm kicking you out!" she barked at them.

"Sorry." Simca giggled, with a girly smile.

Izumi blinked at Simca and thought of how he'd phrase it, "Uh… this family is going through the desert, and their car broke down," he summarized, grinning at her.  
Nao glowered at the swallow for stealing her seat.  
The dog didn't really notice Nao, or Ikki, but he turned his body slightly to offer a lap for Simca if she got tired throughout the movie.  
"Mmm. Okay, I see now." Simca answered.

Ringo stared desperately at Ikki. She had to steal his attention again.  
"Uh, so, Ikki, I think I might have something to say," she lied, whole staring very pleadingly at him.  
He laughed a little, "You think you have something to say? Yeah, well what is it?" he stared at her, curiously.  
Ringo was pleased that Izumi held Simca's attention, but was so preoccupied with worrying about her, she hadn't thought of anything to say to Ikki, who was now waiting.  
Her lips fumbled around different syllables as she brainstormed, and a very light blush threatened to consume the apple of her cheeks, but she didn't let this happen, or otherwise have to deal with Simca's ridicule afterwards.

A slender finger groped her noise for the bridge of the glasses that she wasn't wearing, and she stiffened. "I-I don't really like this movie," she snapped, shoving her hand into her lap.  
'_…wow._' She mocked, displeased that she couldn't think of something more clever to spit at her crush.

Agito moved his hand from Sakanako's knee and shrugged out of her arms. He glared viciously at Spitfire, and then curled against the arm of the couch again. The statement said by the Flame King suddenly crossed his mind, "You want me to kick your ass, then?!" he snarled, standing from the couch and interrupting the movie.

Everyone aimed their stares at Agito as he declared war upon Spitfire, who grinned cockily,  
"Well the, we'd better take this outside." He suggested, before grabbing the Wanijima by the arm and yanking him along behind him.  
Then, the two left the house with a definite shut of door.

'_He's not wearing the crown that I gave him…_' Sakanako noticed, in reference to Spitfire.  
A sigh escaped her lips.

As soon as Agito and Spitfire closed the door, Ikki jumped up and proposed informally by holding up the DVD case of another film, "I vote 300, or Unrated Epic Movie. Who's with me?!" he announced, in a spicy, wrestling referee voice.

"Epic Movie sounds good with me." Simca giggled.

Ringo rebounded from Simca's vote, "**300!**" she declared, but was over-ruled when Izumi said otherwise,  
"Epic Movie." he mumbled, dumbly at Simca, or, rather, her chest.  
Simca shot her hand up in the air before patting Izumi's head with it, "Well, well, good boy. Epic Movie it is, then!"

Mikan was becoming irritated with the atmosphere and she stood up, "Yeah, I'm going to bed!" she proclaimed, before sauntering out of the room.

Ikki licked his lips and rubbed his palms together, "Epic Movie wins…"


	17. Guest Challenge

"Who the hell do you think you are, Agito?!" Spitfire roared angrily before ripping the smaller of the two up by his shirt collar, "I'd appreciate it greatly if you'd leave Sakanako alone! I'm leading her to the top of trophaeium, understand? Not you!!" he threw Agito to the ground and looked down on him with burning orange optics.  
"You can't fly with her. You haven't any wings…; only fangs. Leave her alone, scum."  
Then, the side of his mouth pulled back a bit, his face clearly bitter, "I thought love and friends were all shit to you! Was zat all a lie?!"

Agito stood up and cursed at himself for even allowing this miserable king to throw him.  
"I'll do whatever the hell I want to, and I'm not putting up with your shit, either. Don't throw orders at me, and expect me to follow them!" he barked.  
He threw a backward glance at the house; Sakanako was in there.  
This fueled his rage all the more. He wasn't even involved with her, so why was Spitfire being such a nuisance? But, somehow, he felt defiant. Why the hell should he follow this guy's orders?

"Go fuck yourself," he spat, "I'll hang out with whoever I want, and you're not gonna stop me. Even if what I said _**were**_ a lie, what are you going to do to me? Hit me because I have a friend?"  
Agito grinned at the thought, and when he spoke again, his voice was contorted into a shrill mockery, until it broke on the last syllable and flattened again:

"Now _**that's**_ mature."

"I won't hit you for hanging out with her!" Spitfire snarled, as he raised a fist, "But I **can** bring myself to hit you for messing with my girlfriend! Understand, or are you that dense?!" he looked away, to the house for a second, and then back to Agito, "Stop screwing around with her. If this is your idea of friendships, you should choose someone else to be friends with," he advised, coldly.  
"I didn't bring my regalia, but if you really want to leave your ATs, then meet me the day after tomorrow at Gate Fubuki. On the western half of the arch. If you won't leave her alone… then I'll take her from you by force."

An ominous wind moaned and whistled, playing with the males' shirt tails and hair.  
"How 'bout it? You win; you can be friends with Sakanako all you want. I win, and you leave her the hell alone." the Flame King proposed.

Despite his entire speech, Agito only heard one vital detail:  
"You didn't even try your fucking REGALIA?! Why the hell did you bring me out here, if not to waste my time with all this mindless dribble?!" he shouted, throwing his hands up, angrily.  
"Ugh!! Fuck you and your challenge…. But I have no choice, I guess. I'll do it, and I'll kick your ass, flaming bitch. But both ends of the bet are about me—what the fuck do you give up?" he snapped, leering ferociously at him.

"My loss is allowing you to spend time with Sakanako, but since I'm confident, I'll add my road and regalia wiff it. Satisfied? Or do I need to bet ATs, period?"  
The Flame King put his hands on his hips and a smile spread across his face,  


"Y'know, if you'd like, you could put more on the line, too." He looked over Agito's attire, "Like that handcuff belt, n' that grey jacket of yours."  
Spitfire's smile changed to a smirk.

"They wouldn't fit your fatass, anyway," Agito rebuked, mocking Spitfire's pose with his own imitation, "But I'll bet the… the belt. That's all you're getting out of me." and with that, he turned from Spitfire and stomped back into the house, all of his features, very evidently, distorted with his irritance.

Truthfully, the clothes were a bit harder to give up, and this, not Spitfire was what bothered him.

Shortly after Agito came back in, Spitfire did as well, to find that a new movie was playing and that his girlfriend had left the room, "Sakanako? Funny. Must've gone out…"he spectated that Mikan had also left the room, "She didn't want to watch the movie?" he questioned the room, vaguely.

Ikki looked about and then shrugged, "Guess she went to take a bath or something. So, who won the fight?" he turned around, attention completely taken from the TV.

"I won ofcourse. Hands down." Spitfire told the crow, smiling.  
Ikki believed every word of it and gasped, "Holy shit, Agito! How the hell—you're not the Fang King anymore?! So Spitfire… you're like… Fang King **AND** Flame King?! Geez!!"

Spitfire played along. He ran fingers through his orange hair before walking towards the kitchen.


	18. Epilogue: Hiding

Sakanako, at this moment, was hiding under Agito's bed covers from Spitfire.

He was mad at her? Did he not love her anymore?

The fact that he wouldn't wear her crown around his neck…  
Though it was a simple thing that she usually could pass over, she couldn't quite get over it.  
"It's just a necklace," she assured herself, in an annoyed tone. But her mind wouldn't let it go.  
To her, that necklace represented her heart.  
And she was mad at him.

She knew that before Spitfire left, he would come by _**her**_ room in search of her, but she doubted that he'd check Agito's room. Besides, it was furthest down the hall.  
"Nnghh…" she moaned angrily, before sinking lower into the bed.

In her head, she was rehearsing a scenario,  
'_ "__**Hey, bitch, what the fuck are you doing in my bed, get the hell out! &!&#!!1**__"  
"Shhh! Be quiet, I'm hiding from someone!"  
"__**&#&#&#&(F#!!111**__" '_

It was no use. Agito would probably blow her cover.

* * *

And surely enough, her predictions were correct and Agito was undergoing a similar procedure, currently, "What the hell ever! Like I'd let him steal my title! I'm still the Fang King, you gullible asshole!"  
Then, he shot an acidic glare at Spitfire,  
"The day after tomorrow—I'll see _**you**_ at Fubuki Gate. Prepare yourself, cuntlicker."

Naodan blinked as Agito stormed in the direction of his room, and her gaze followed Spitfire, although her place next to Ringo limited the view to a few seconds' length. '_Fubuki's Gate?_'  
But her thoughts were interrupted a bit too soon, with a shout from the end of the hallway:

"**WHAT THE HELL**?!" It was Agito.  
His voice squeaked, and he was utterly confused. What the hell do you want? Why are you in my bed??" he prodded, his voice quitting to the slightest degree as he acknowledged the house. But he couldn't imagine what she'd want in his bed; she had her own room.

Sakanako gestured her hands wildly, in attempt to shut the honker up.  
"Shut uuuuuuuuup. Pleeeeeeaseeeee, Shut uuuuuuuuup." She moaned, dully, as she sat up, her hair slightly tasseled from the bed, "Look, I'm not here to rape you or anything, I swear. No. I'll tell you why I'm here, maybe, if you just get in the bed, and shut your face."

"Ew, why?!" he gasped, then glared at the bed, "I don't want to." He protested, but then, after a moment of consideration, sighed angrily and plopped onto the bed.

A giggle was released before Sakanako sunk back under the covers,  
"He'll be here soon. Just say you don't know where I am, okay?"  
"Yeah, whatever," he hissed at her, before pulling his knees to his chest, as usual.

After a moment of silence, there was a predicted knock from Spitfire and then the door swung open, shortly after Sakanako giggled again.  
The Flame King's eyes narrowed at Agito, "What the hell do you think you're doing?" he could se some of the sepia strands poling out from beneath the covers, "You gained an awfully large amount of weight in the last, oh, 5 minutes." he notified.

The Fang King sneered, "And?! Tell me why that's any of your fucking concern?" he cocked a brow, and stared at Spitfire as if he were stupid.  
"Are you pregnant?" Spitfire asked.  
The Sakanako lump snickered madly.

Agito whacked the lump and played it off as rubbing a cramp, "Yeah, because that makes fucking sense."

The cramp gasped and almost started laughing again, because little did Agito know, he happened to be rubbing the fish's rump.  
Spitfire stood hipshot with a questioning grin, "Okay, I'm done playing. Sakanako, what in the world are you doing?"

The lump was persistent, and laid there, unmoving.

Spitfire rolled his eyes playfully before sitting down on the edge of the bed. He began to tickle the lump near the area Agito was petting, and it fired off a leg, that jutted quirkily out of the blanket. The lump cackled, and then rolled over, constriction the blanket around it and pulling it off of Agito's small frame.  
"Well, Agito, it looks like the lipo is really working for you."

Sakanako looked like a taco.  
An upside down soft taco.

"Okay, well, really, Sakanako,…I'd recognize your legs anywhere."

The taco sprouted a head and its face glared at Agito, "You slinky!! You touched my ass, you freak!" her glare evaporated and quickly reincarnated into laughter on her lips.  
Spitfire looked a little annoyed, but kept on smiling, anyway.  
"Well then, I'm off to my house now," he alerted, "Sweet, I'll see you tomorrow, and Agito,…" suddenly, his voice grew very grim, "…I'll see _**you**_ the day after tomorrow."

He unwrapped the soft taco and gave Sakanako a farewell hug and kiss before leaving, and closing the door behind him.  
Sakanako laid there for a minute, before sitting up and smiling.  
She had completely forgotten about the necklace which had been bothering her before.

She crawled back towards her friend and "heehee"ed a little bit, before sitting herself snugly beside him, "That wasn't bad." she told him, before remembering what she wanted to confront him about.  
She grinned cleverly, "I never knew you were a pervert, Agito. Is it cuz you're sexually deprived? Aw, I'm soooo sorry, Sharky…. Do you need a hug?"

Because she was Sakanako, she didn't wait for a reply.  
She followed her question with a hug, "Thanks."  
Her voice was serious. The last thing that left her lips was vague, and she didn't expect him to understand what she was thanking him for.

But that didn't matter.  
What mattered to her was that she was thanking for being there, and nothing more.  
She was assuring herself.

Agito barely heard Sakanako, much less, planned to respond. His rage was accumulated to an increasingly threatening level, and her being there made it worse, though, seeing Spitfire leave was somewhat soothing.  
Now, all he had to focus on was his upcoming battle, and he'd have everything he could want in the bag.  
'_…everything…_'

Yellow optics fell over his hand that previously been on Sakanako's butt, and he scowled,  
"Yeah, whatever." He wasn't going to say sorry. The words were foreign to him.

"Can you get out now?" he grumbled, attempting to shrug out of Sakanako's arms that were hooked around him. It was at time like these… when he got urges to be completely alone, and because of his nature, he had a tendency to get what he wanted.

Looking to Sakanako, he began to wonder:  
What kind of screw did you have to knock loose to want to be a friend of his?  
Did the fangs, and the cursing, and, even, the killing, not phase her?

It frustrated him terribly, and he wanted to get as far away from her as possible, but didn't think he could, even if he tried.  
Although he'd hate to admit it, he liked their friendship… and the annoyed look Spitfire's expression held.  
He grinned at the remembrance of said expression.

"Get out."  
"Fine then, fine. I'm leaving, I'm leaving."


	19. Authors' Notes & OC pics

_**LOOK AT THIS LINK!! THESE ARE THE OCS IN THE STORY!**_ : i2.photobucket"dot"com/albums/y42/kyorawksespy/massesdolls-1.jpg

(Get rid of the "dot" in that. Replace "dot" with "." Sorry. It's hard to get links up here. xx)

**LOVE FROM JESSICA**:

OMFG! Hi guys!! :D It's Etsuuko, from , but chyu may call me Etsu, or Jessica.

I'm happy to tell you guys, that you have made it to the end of BOOK ONE!! OUT OF—I don't know!  
A lot. XD  
Anyways. What do I have to say about this book. Hmmmm. I hope you liked it. Typing this thing was a pain in the ass, ESPECIALLY for me. XX Brittany didn't do anything with the online version except read it, even though when she offered to help, I refused to let her, LOL.

I told you guys that this fanfic is basically a roleplay that me and BB (the other author! Gasp!) have been doing, since we got into an Air Gear craze in about Februrary '08, so don't give me credit for some of these great writings. Really, she did a lot of stuff too. Like uhm, Agito, is totally hers. XD She's his OWNER. I don't ever write in his perspective, but BB seems to have aced him. O.O  
Anyways, yeah.  
Her OC's are Izumi and Naodan… and all the other OC's belong to me, and are done by me. :K How did we write this great work of art? We used a simple note book, and passed it back and forth, writing for each assigned character. I'll put the cast list at the end of this thing. : Yeah, yeah.

Erm, I'm surprised at how well this book was written, since it was a little while back.  
If you have anything to ask me or BB, feel free to drop a letter by Private Messaging my fanfiction account, "Etsuuko".  
Aren't those dollies I provided adorable? XD I made them myself! DON'T STEAL THEM, DANG IT!! THEY'RE MINEEE!! NO PIRATES, hear me?! e;; NO PIRATES!!

Right now (Early August '08), we have 3 books done, and we're starting book 4. I'm not sure how long this thing's gonna be, but the plot is still very, very, alive. Xx;; Die, dammit, die! (I'm sooo tired of typing each chapter. Someone shoot me! (but not really, because I secretly like it) ) I'm happy the story's getting so much attention, and I really love you fans that have made it to the end!

Please, do keep reading, and I'll get started on book 2 sometime this month! Peace, you guys!! PEACE FREAKIN NOW. –immature giggle-

-ahem, passes the spotlight over to Brittany-

**LOVE FROM BRITTANY**:

Hey, readers. This is the "other author" who hasn't, until this point, revealed herself.  
Well; Here I am, in all my Air Gear adoring glory.  
My star character is Agito, since it's his prime time in the story, but I can't wait until you begin to see some of the other character's perspectives, too. xD

I swear that Izumi has a personality; he started as a blank character in the beginning of the roleplay, but developed, slowly. I hope you notice! Xx;;

Well, even though I did a bunch of the writing, I have to give Jessica her credit. She edit's typo's and stuff, so, Go her. I didn't think she had the patience.

Thanks for reading until this point, and if you like it, and keep reading, it'll get BETTER. Like all things, except for, y'know, bread, it gets better over time! :3

--So, one book down.. and..lots of chapters to go! 0.0 Thanks again!


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